On the Road Again: Bonnie's Kalos Adventures
by Darren1138
Summary: Bonnie was once a little girl, travelling and learning about the wonders of the Pokemon world with her brother and friends. Now, three years have past, and Bonnie, now ten years old, embarks on her own Pokemon journey! RATED K FOR NOW
1. A Girl's Beginning

**On the Road Again: Bonnie's Kalos Adventures**

 **Disclaimer: Pokemon is not owned by me!**

 **A/N~ Good day, folks! If you guys look into my profile, I am dm7111722, writer of a few fanfics that include a crossover between Transformers, Pokemon and Digimon, and a full-fledged story of Power Rangers.**

 **Here, I present you with my very first Pokemon (and ONLY Pokemon) fanfic.**

 **I dunno what viewers think about the character Bonnie from XY XYZ, but her character can offer a promising story on her own. So, this story will centre around her. A new journey, years after her previous adventures in the anime has been swimming in my head for quite some time now, and I am willing to make it possible right now.**

 **So, enough with the introductions, let us begin the story!**

 **(Note: Just like my Power Rangers fic, I decided to make a main event of the anime as a standard time mark should I mention anything about the timeline and give it an abbreviation. As such, the crisis at Lumiose City by Team Flare from the anime will be identified as FC for the Flare Crisis. So the main story will be within After Flare Crisis or AFC)**

 **Chapter 1: A Girl's Beginning**

Lumiose City,

Kalos,

3 AFC,

A flock of Pidgey flew by in a V-formation, tweeting lowly in the clear blue sky. The Sun shone brightly over the land of Kalos.

Within the city of Lumiose, activity is blooming with people and creatures called Pokemon, wandering around the roads and streets attending to their usual business. With so many people finding tons of things to see and do, it's no wonder that the city became the largest in the region of Kalos.

Within the centre of the city, a shiny towering spire stood tall and large, sizing over every single building in the city. From within the lower cubic base of the tower, a battle ensued.

"Bunnelby, use Dig!" A loud cry echoed throughout a dirt field within a wide open room. On both sides, two boys stood firm, each behind two more creatures battling out each other like in a ball game.

The boy with blonde hair and a pair of circular-framed glasses dressed in a light blue jump suit watched as a grey and brown rabbit-like Pokemon drilled itself on the ground, spinning rapidly into the hard rock and disappearing from sight.

The younger lad on the other side of the field, behind a smaller light blue frog creature with a bubbly and sticky frill around its neck, held his ground, ensuring that his partner does not make a foolish move to attack.

Such were the wonders of Pokemon. A world filled with creatures of all shapes and sizes, capable of tremendous powers to shape life on the planet. A world where humans and Pokemon can live in sync to better themselves and each other.

"Froakie!" The boy called to his Pokemon. "Get ready to use Water Pulse, on my mark!"

The Bubble Frog Pokemon stood down, ready to leap at the call of its Trainer. It squinted its yellow eyes, scanning for wherever the Bunnelby might strike next.

The young boy, too, looked around, trying to predict or even find out where the opponent's Pokemon may appear from out of.

Hoping to overcome the enemy Pokemon, the boy was putting in all of his focus on his Pokemon, wanting to make sure that whatever he had ready for Bunnelby would seal his victory in. For all he knew, his Pokemon was supposed a slight advantage over Bunnelby's Ground-type move, confident that his Froakie would be able to leap away to safety.

However, just when he was about to make the call…

"Huh? Froakie! Look out!" The ground from underneath Froakie shook like a tremor and in the next instant, the frog Pokemon felt a massive blow to its chest, greatly pushing it up in the air. From out of the dust, Bunnelby darted right out of the ground, delivering a hard punch with its right ear at the poor Pokemon. "Oh no!"

Froakie flew high up from the force of the attack and landed down on the ground, crashing on the dirt. Bunnelby safely touched down, unfazed by the battle.

The boy with the Froakie did not move an inch, watching helplessly as his Pokemon slumped down on the ground. After a few seconds, the frog Pokemon's eyes had turned into swirls. Mouth open, the Pokemon was finally defeated in battle.

At the side of the field, a robot walked right in and stood to declare the winner of the match.

" _Froakie is unable to battle._ " It announced." _Therefore, as logic dictates, the winner of this match is Master Clemont._ "

Bunnelby hopped back to its Trainer victorious from its hard-earned battle. Clemont bent down and enveloped the Pokemon in a welcome hug.

"Great job, Bunnelby. You battled hard." Clemont congratulated his Pokemon.

"Bunnel!" The Digging Pokemon cheered. However, as the celebrations died down, Clemont looked to the other side of the field. There, he saw the Trainer he battled kneeling down on the ground, picking up his injured Froakie with a battered heart. The feeling of defeat was evident in his face.

Unable to watch any longer, the Gym Leader returned his Pokemon into a red and white sphere and walked over to his defeated opponent.

Looking at the poor boy, he bent down to his level, catching the sad kid by surprise.

"Huh?" The boy sniffled as Clemont dug in his pocket for a bottle of Potion. With a generous heart, he handed over the bottle to the kid.

"Here." He showed the bottle to him. The boy quietly accepted the Potion and sprayed the chemical on the damaged Pokemon. The frog Pokemon started to squirm a little after being sprayed with the Potion, but was still in much pain that its face cringed.

The boy, however, remained in a poor state of shock and despair. It must have been hard to accept such a defeat; despite how much he had put into the fight.

"Hey." Clemont then came forward and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, calmly assuring the boy that the loss was not for naught.

"I…" The boy sighed with much sadness. "I… lost. I guess I wasn't ready for you after all."

"Maybe." Clemont stood back up and put up a determined look for him. "But don't take the defeat so hardly." The Trainer looked at Clemont, now curious to what the Gym Leader said to him. "You have fought really well for your first time here. I could see that you care for your Pokemon, and they clearly care for you. That's why Froakie and Growlithe fought so hard for you."

The Trainer looked back at his Froakie, who was now sleeping soundly despite the injuries.

"And another thing. Failure is the mother of success. Take this defeat as a lesson and not like it's the end of the world. There will always be a chance for you to come back and take the win. Just train your Pokemon more and make your bonds with them even stronger, and I deduce that you will eventually be victorious!"

The boy kept on looking at his Froakie, wondering about Clemont's words. Then, with a changed face, he carried Froakie in his arms and looked to Clemont; this time with a knowing look.

"If you really think I can make it, then I will!" He declared, earning a nod from the Gym Leader. "Thank you for the advice, Clemont."

"My pleasure, Daniel." The two had finally moved forward and gave each other a handshake, putting an end to a close battle.

Not far from the Prism Tower where the Gym Battle situated in, there was a house joined together in a row with other buildings.

Inside the top floor of the house, there was a bedroom filled with loads of Pokemon figures and plush dolls, with some stickers stuck to the walls, neatly arranged throughout.

Then, from the bathroom, out came a girl, fully dressed and coming to the mirror to inspect her looks. A ten-year-old girl with blonde hair and a rather happy-go-lucky attitude was checking herself out for a grand journey ahead of her.

Her name was Bonnie Edison. A young girl who was ready to take the road to becoming a Pokemon Trainer.

The cheerful little girl who had been travelling with her brother years ago had grown to be a little taller, surprisingly just as tall as her brother was from those days before.

Bonnie had also sported a new attire for herself. No longer was she wearing the brown sleeveless blouse with the black ribbon at the rim of her collar. Gone was the large frilled skirt and the black shorts worn underneath it.

She was now wearing a new sleeveless brown vest over a black shirt. She also wore a pair of beige shorts, but without the white skirt around her waist.

Her blonde hair had also blossomed down since her last adventure. While she used to have a little ponytail sticking to the right from her hair tied with an orange band, she completely changed her hairstyle so that her hair grew down with a couple of bangs, while she tied the back of her hair into a larger ponytail.

As Bonnie twirled around in front of her mirror to get a good look of her new clothes, she clenched her fists in the brightest of moods.

"Finally, after ten years of childish delusions of grandeur, I will finally embark on an adventure to become the greatest Pokemon Trainer the world will ever know!"

However, when she looked at the mirror again, her usual happiness had lowered. She noticed that her new look was just not right. Something was needed to complete it.

Then, from out of the covers of her bed, a little mouse Pokemon with antenna-like whiskers and a long tail with a spiky tip popped right out, pushing a brown fedora with a yellow line around it.

Smiling again, Bonnie picked up the hat and stroked the cute little Pokemon on his head.

"That's where I left it. Thanks, Dedenne!"

"Dene!" The Pokemon squeaked as it hopped onto Bonnie's shoulder; a little change from the usual yellow satchel she would carry it around. Speaking of said satchel, she was also going to replace it with a proper backpack suitable for long travels. The bag was yellow all around, with some black highlights to give it a little more spark.

She slumped the bag to her back and she put the hat on her head, feeling all ready to finally head off on her new journey to become a Pokemon Trainer.

"Uh, Bonnie…?" Then, she heard a knock on the door followed by the sound of an older male coming from outside.

"Come in." she welcomed the guest to her room. The door opened and Bonnie saw that it was none other than her big brother. With her trademark smile, she ran to her brother and tackled him in a sibling hug. "Welcome home, big bro!"

"Good to see you too, Bonnie." Clemont returned the hug before separating. "And happy birthday, too."

"Thanks!" The Dedenne on Bonnie's shoulder leapt from her and landed on Clemont's head, slightly catching the older boy by surprise.

"And hello to you too, Dedenne." The boy tickled the mouse at the chin, delighting it with slight sparks emitting from his whiskers.

"Dede!" The Pokemon then bounced back onto Bonnie's shoulder.

"So, are you all set for your first day as a Trainer?" asked Clemont.

"You bet!" Bonnie skipped happily, nearly throwing Dedenne off her shoulder. The Pokemon managed to regain his balance before growling lightly as his partner. "Eheheh… Sorry, Dedenne." Bonnie giggled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Dede…" The Pokemon accepted the apology, albeit still a little frustrated.

"And how about you, Clemont?" Bonnie asked her brother. "How was your day in the Gym?"

"I just barely started, Bonnie." Clemont chuckled. "I mean, it's still early in the morning. But at least there was one Trainer who came by. I'd say he was a beginning Trainer judging by only having two Pokemon in hand."

"Awww. Tough luck…" Bonnie cooed in mock disappointment.

"He did put up a great battle though. He was actually able to defeat Heliosk in the first round with his Growlithe too. His Froakie was strong too, but sadly, they were both knocked out of battle by Bunnelby."

"Sheesh, Clemont. You could have lowered the bar just a little." Bonnie huffed, feeling a little disappointed by her brother's overpowered battle style.

"Now, Bonnie. The rules are that four Gym Badges are recommended before battling in the Gym, not needed. Everyone has the right to try. Remember Ash?"

Bonnie's face lit up in pure praise and admiration at the mention of the other Pokemon Trainer she travelled with; perhaps one of the best she had ever met.

"How could I not?" She walked and looked out the window, remembering all the awesome battles Ash had long ago. "He was such a great Trainer. Taught us everything we know, right?"

"You can say that again." Clemont pulled out a chair from under a desk, watching his sister daydream away. He too had such fond moments in his previous journies with said Pokemon Trainer, along with another girl just his age, Serena, who had embraced her path to becoming a Pokemon Performer.

As far as Clemont could recall, Ash was currently back home in Kanto far from his own region, while Serena also embarked on a journey in Hoenn. Clemont and Bonnie had decided to stay in Kalos, simply because Clemont wanted to maintain his status as a Gym Leader, wanting to become stronger that way. Bonnie, on the other hand, was so attached to her brother that, despite her own urging to go with either one of the Trainers, she wanted to stay with Clemont until she was old enough to venture out on her own.

And now, she was at the right age to do so.

Bonnie was swinging her legs in pure excitement, really wanting to walk out of her home and heading out to the big world awaiting her.

"Ohhh! I can't wait! I can imagine the looks on Ash and Serena's faces when I tell them I'm finally going to travel!" She could not hold her impatience any longer, causing her to jump a little forward.

"Wh-Whoah!"

However, her sudden movement had caused her to lose balance and was launched from the window.

"YYAAARRGHH!"

"Argh!" With no time to waste, Clemont immediately reached for the oversized backpack behind him and from out of the bag, a long Aipom tail was throttled out. As it zoomed for Bonnie, it opened up its bud fingers and caught the girl's blouse before she could make the dreadful fall.

"Eeekkk…" Bonnie had her eyes closed, covered behind her hands squealing in fear. Once she felt the tugging of her clothes and the sudden stop to her fall, she hesitantly opened her eyes to find that she was suspended almost a few feet in the air.

The force of her brother's Aipom Arm was so strong, that she could breathe a heavy sigh of relief. Then, she could feel the robotic arm pulling her back up to the safety of her room.

She landed on her bed where the arm released her. Dedenne, panicked by his Trainer's fall, ran up to Bonnie and gave her a frantic nudge to the cheek.

"Dede?" The little mouse Pokemon gave a cry of concern for Bonnie. The new Trainer giggled in response.

"I'm okay, Dedenne." She then faced her brother, feeling a little embarrassed. "Hehehe. I guess I still must learn to be more careful with my energy." After retracting his Aipom Arm, Clemont huffed out in exhaustion from the instant action.

"You better be." He then put his hands on his hips, serious about his sister's well-being. "You're going to have to watch out for yourself now that you're travelling, Bonnie. I'm not always going to be there to take care of you anymore."

"Speak for yourself, Clemont." Bonnie snickered. "I could say the same for you any time since you're still single." Clemont retorted back from the taunting.

Back in the day, Bonnie was always willing to find Clemont the one girl to be his wife and take care of him. However, as time flew by, the hunt for that woman for him had somehow stopped, shrunken down to mere teasing instead. However, she couldn't help but feel that Clemont should at least do something about his love life.

"When are you ever going to stop taunting about my life?" Bonnie just kept on giggling menacingly at her brother. But Clemont was going to have to continue his advice. His serious face gave Bonnie a reason to listen to him. "However, you're going to have to be more serious with your training. You're finally going to go ahead and battle for the first time, officially. There's a lot you need to learn about being a Trainer."

"Don't fret, dear brother." Bonnie hopped out of her bed and raised a finger at her brother while displaying her confident demeanour. "After all I've learnt from you, Ash and Serena, I will do fine." She then raised her elbow up and signalled for Dedenne to leap on it, scurrying next to her head. "Besides, I have Dedenne to protect me."

"Dedenne!" The Pokemon nuzzled on Bonnie's cheek again, tickling Bonnie to laughter. This time, the Pokemon seemed to have made sure to nuzzle her carefully, for fear that his antenna whiskers could give her a real shocking sensation.

"You're right." Clemont agreed. The little sparky fuzzball was always such a big help for his sister, although it can be a real glutton for food. Nevertheless, as he was the one who captured the Pokemon for her, he knew well enough that Dedenne would be able to make his Trainer proud. "But Dedenne is still your Starter Pokemon. You're going to have to gain more Pokemon if you're going to enter the Pokemon League."

"And I plan to do that as soon as I exit Lumiose City. I'm going to catch me some big punches to the squad!" declared Bonnie.

"Dede!" Dedenne jumped away from Bonnie to sit at the bed. The girl bent down and faced her cute little Starter.

"Of course, you'll be the powerhouse of the gang, Dedenne. If Ash's Pikachu could do it, then I don't see why you can't either."

"Dede!" The Pokemon agreed with delight, having the Pikachu someone like a big brother to it embedded in his memories.

"Boy, I can't wait!" Bonnie got ready to leave her room and go downstairs to have her first meal of the day. She honestly was expecting cake to celebrate her birthday, but she didn't really mind as her journey was far more important.

After greeting her dad, Meyer, who was getting ready for work himself, and getting a birthday wish from him, Bonnie continued to head for the kitchen.

She made her way down the stairs with Dedenne latched onto her hat, marching down like a soldier ready for war. Except this was a much happier moment.

"And once we're out there, we'll get to meet all the familiar faces from our last journey." assured Bonnie still teeming with glee. "Like Viola, or maybe even…" On her way to the kitchen to eat, she continued to list down all the people she could remember. And boy, what a long list it was.

Minutes have passed, and still, Bonnie kept on mentioning the people she knew.

"And maybe Miette? Okay, she maybe a little arrogant, but she is still a friend. Or maybe, just maybe… Uh…"

Suddenly, Bonnie's cheery attitude had come to a halt, replaced by one of sadness and longing.

Clemont was in the middle of his cooking for Bonnie when he noticed her cheers had stopped. He turned around, putting down his spatula to find his sister now down in the dumps. He went over to Bonnie to see if she was alright.

"Bonnie? What's wrong?" He called her. Bonnie's head was resting on top of her hands while she placed her elbows on the table. She turned her head at her brother's call.

"Hmmm? Oh, it's nothing, bro." Then, a tear was shed, flowing down her cheek. "It's just that…" She stopped for a while before uttering one word. Or rather, one name…

"Squishy…" Clemont sat down next to Bonnie, understanding her pain.

That green blob of a Pokemon. How long had it been since she last saw it? And where was it now?

All those questions made Bonnie even more unhappy. She loved that weird but mysterious Pokemon just as much as Dedenne. Departing from it was a really heartfelt moment for her and everyone around her during that event. She hoped to see Squishy again, but even after all these years, she had not even caught a glimpse of it.

She really hoped to find it again. Perhaps even invite it to her team as she had promised it. But she knew that it was not possible. Growing up to understand the world better may be a great way to become a Trainer, but at the same time, when you realize that past dreams might turn out to become nothing more than that, you would feel really betrayed.

Clemont placed hand on his sister's arm and pulled her in for a hug, comforting her as they embraced.

"I know you miss Squishy." Clemont mused. "But you know it needs to fix up Kalos after what happened to Lumiose City years ago."

"I know…" Bonnie muttered in agreement, forced to accept reality.

"But I'm sure that if… No. **When** you get to see Squishy again, you'll have a great time with him!"

Squishy, a powerful Pokemon; a Zygarde to be exact. It had a duty to fulfil; to protect Kalos from further harm. Bonnie knew not to interfere with that mission, but she still desired to reunite with Squishy, even if it was going to a brief meeting. And when that time comes, she would promise to live the best of it.

With that in mind, she wiped off her tears and smiled to her brother.

"Thanks, Clemont." She thanked the boy. "What would I do without you?"

"Apparently, you would have to do things without me. At least, for a while." he promised.

"You can count on me! I'll be the very best that no one ever was!" Bonnie then burst out of her brother's grasp and stood up, raising up her fist in the air. But then, she remembered something, causing her to scratch her nose in embarrassment. "Well, except for Ash of course. I'm aiming for the top, but I'm not sure if I want to be a Pokemon Master like he will be." Bonnie giggled at her goals, wanting to be among the best, but still leave just enough room for Ash to take his chance at being **the** best first.

"Huh?" Suddenly, Clemont could hear a constant sizzling noise coming from behind him. He then sniffed around when he picked up a smoky smell in the air. That can't be good…

Once he instinctively turned around and saw what was happening, he and Bonnie shrieked in horror as they saw that the pan used for his cooking was burning hot smoke. The burnt smell of Bonnie's pancakes was getting stronger and stronger. If Clemont doesn't do something, there could lot worse than burning pancakes.

"Yikes!" The inventor quickly scurried to put out the flames before a fire could start. He quickly pulled out a mobile device from his backpack seated on a chair and aimed it at the blazing accident, expecting a stream of white fluid to extinguish the growing burnout.

However, after pressing the trigger some many times, he was unable to shoot anything. With his invention a failure, he frantically ran around, panicking about what to do without his scientific endeavours.

"Oh no! Oh no! Oh NO! What am I to do?! WHAT AM I DO?!"

However, he was shut down with a splash of cold water to the face, pinning him down to the floor. Shaking himself up, he spurted out the little bit of water he had taken in. He then looked up and saw that the fire was now put out, and standing next to the stove was Bonnie, holding a dishwashing bidet which dripped drops of water.

It seemed that she jumped right for the sprayer, anticipating her brother's invention failure, and put out the fire herself.

"Hehehe." Bonnie chuckled at her brother's antics. "And you said I should be more careful."

"Ergh…" Soaking wet and cold, the inventor took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with a dry towel. "Good job, sis…"

Hooking up the bidet to the tap, Bonnie went over to help her brother dry up, fetching a towel from the bathroom upstairs.

Once being wrapped in the towel, Clemont watched as Bonnie played with Dedenne while eating a bowl of her favourite cereal. He guessed it would have to do for a nutritious breakfast. He was also proud of Bonnie for reacting to the situation before any trouble started. She truly was growing up to be a fine girl.

Clemont seemed to recognize how much Bonnie had learnt from her past adventures. With the experience from travelling with three older Trainers, the once little girl had gained much knowledge. Sooner or later, after the adventures were over, she began to pick up some certain habits from all three of them.

Her fashion sense and the care for her own and her Pokemon's looks seem to stem from experiencing Serena's own performances, allowing her to carefully choose what to wear and what to apply to her face, and more importantly, knowing how to properly clean and groom her Pokemon, making sure that they were all in the pink of health. Not to mention that Bonnie was also wearing a fedora identical to the one Serena wore later in their last journey together. Her hair would have also grown a lot longer, but inspired by how Serena used to cut hers short to prove her determination for change, Bonnie too had made it a habit to cut her hair, but always made sure to keep enough to tie that ponytail of hers.

From her own big brother, whether she liked it or not, Bonnie had somehow started to act like him, always bragging on whenever she accomplished a feat, no matter small or big. Moreover, once she starts coming up with plans, her eyes would sparkle brightly and she would act like some sort of genius, exaggerating about how she would succeed. And once they failed, she would slump down in despair. Fortunately, though she was still a little more cheerful than her brother, so she claimed.

But the most obvious and powerful point was her own devotion for Pokemon. While every Trainer she knew of fondly were all dedicated when it came to Pokemon, the one among them who had shown Bonnie the real truth behind that spirit was Ash. The Pokemon Trainer, who was probably somewhere else in the world training as hard as ever, had shown Bonnie the ways of a Pokemon Trainer even when she was not even old enough to be one. Soon after, all the while she had been caring for her brother's Pokemon like a caretaker would. She was even allowed to 'train' the Dedenne that was technically her brother's, always teaching the tyke how to make big holes on the ground with its ever-growing Electric-type moves. She would not stop, never to give up until the very end. Ash's own words became evident in her own spirit, watching out for Dedenne as if she was already on the road to become a Trainer.

If Clemont knew any better, his previous words told to Daniel were simply delivered the same way Ash did before. In fact, he believed everyone in the group would thank Ash for everything that made them who they were now.

Now that she was all grown up, Bonnie had become from being a small little girl vulnerable to dangers, to a more upbeat and bubbly, if not mischievous, bigger one who was ready to put her skills to the test.

She finished up with her breakfast and scooped up the last of her Poke Chomp cereal. Once she had devoured that last bit of the cereal, she instantly stood up and ran up to her room to grab her backpack.

After packing up what she needed for her adventure, Bonnie was all ready to move out and explore. A brand new journey and a shot at the Pokemon League awaited her.

Dedenne climbed up to her shoulder, willing to follow his Trainer wherever they may go. It's a journey they shall take together.

"Come on, Dedenne. Adventure awaits!"

"Dedenne!" The two were about to burst through the door, when a low voice quickly halted them.

"Going off already?"

"Oh!" The hyperactive girl stopped in her tracks, turning around to see that the person calling out to her was her father with a thick beard. Backed by his Ampharos, the old man came over, amused by Bonnie's eager desire to venture out. "Hey, dad. Ehehehe." She rubbed her head again.

"Don't tell me you're going to just leave the city without the essentials?" Meyer reminded his daughter.

"Oh. Yeah… Right." Bonnie had to admit; she was kind of feeling a little dumbfounded, allowing her exhilaration to get the best of her that she forgot about the important basics in preparing for her upcoming adventure. That meant registering for the League and obtaining her very own PokeDex and a set of PokeBalls. "I guess I should have thought that out more, huh?"

"I swear, Bonnie." Clemont sighed from the kitchen. "You keep this up and your road to the Pokemon League will be as slow as a Slowpoke's conscience…"

"I heard that, Clemont…"

To start, Bonnie, accompanied by Dedenne and her family, decided to pay a visit to the one place where she can officially begin her Pokemon journey.

The place was a large laboratory complex built with a glass greenhouse at one side of it.

As they entered through the front doors, they went into the spacious hall that consisted of a three-way staircase going up to the upper floors. As soon as they arrived, they found the very man who ran the lab; Professor Sycamore, Lumiose's brightest scientist.

"Well, look who has finally arrived for her Pokemon journey!" Sycamore welcomed the bunch with open arms.

"Morning, Professor Sycamore!" Bonnie gleefully greeted the Professor, running towards the man, with Clemont and Meyer trailing behind her. "You heard right! I'm all set to becoming the greatest Pokemon Trainer that ever lived!" She proudly put her arms on her hips, earning laughs from the crowd around her.

"I really like your spirit, Bonnie." admired Professor Sycamore. "Trainers like you always brighten up my days here. Such eager minds coming to begin their long adventure." He then walked down the steps to join the three guests. "So, I understand you would like to register for the League." Bonnie nodded again. "Then right this way." The Professor led them all to his workplace where Bonnie could be given her essential tools.

Once they arrived there, the room, built with a super computer logged in to the building's systems and a medical lab, the group walked over to the mega machine, which Clemont could not take his eyes off of.

"To be honest, Bonnie…" Professor Sycamore told the Trainer. "I didn't think you would choose the League over Showcases. What made you consider it?"

"Well…" Bonnie thought hard to give him a definite answer. "Showcases are pretty and all, and no doubt, I would love to show my stuff in style." She flicked her ponytail to prove her point. "But then, I thought about Ash and how awesome he was in battling. Serena's a great battler too, but Ash has helped me find out who I really want to be. A Trainer who has passion for training their Pokemon to the fullest! And together, we'll reach the top!"

All faces smiled after Bonnie's inspiring answer.

"And then, there are those frustrating Quiz sections in Performances…" But sweatdrops and some dumbfounded faces came soon after… Typical Bonnie.

"Now, Bonnie…" Without further ado, Professor Sycamore typed in a few buttons on the computer and the screen featured what appeared to be a written form containing Bonnie's picture at the top right, along with descriptions based on herself through name, age, personal experience, family contacts and more. "Being with Ash, Serena and your brother and all, I'm sure you know how things work with the PokeDex."

"Sure I do!" Bonnie made a knowing face, but then… "You scan a Pokemon and it reads its data for you. If a Pokemon is captured, it will register all the known moves for you. And… Uh… Okay, I kinda forgot the rest!" Clemont and Meyer behind her fell down to the ground in disbelief. She was doing so well in the first few sentences, and now she messed it up. Oh boy…

"Then I should remind you again. This Trainer form you see here on the screen is your official proof that you have been registered for the Kalos Pokemon League." Bonnie paid close attention to the screen. "Once I've updated your PokeDex, it would allow Gym Leaders to identify you as a challenging Trainer. They get the info and they would allow you to participate in a battle with them. And not to mention that being a registered Trainer, you'll be able to book a free room in any Pokemon Centre you can find. Is that all clear?"

"Understood. So go up to a Gym and they will recognize me as a challenger. And free room service! Got it."

"Geez, about time she used her noggin." Clemont whispered to himself, but it was not as quiet as he had hoped.

"What was that…?"

"Dede…" Bonnie and her Pokemon growled to the taunting brother behind them, as if they were covered in a dark shadowy aura.

"Eck! Nothing!" Clemont panicked. Aside from her past hunts for a perfect wife for him, who knew she could instil fear like that? Must be from the father's side of the family.

However, he was still glad that Bonnie was not all that blur. Indeed, she was becoming more like Ash when it came to paperwork and other boring stuff, but she did have Serena's knack for paying attention to things when she knew she had to.

Professor Sycamore continued to log in Bonnie's PokeDex with the registration required. Once done, from out of the computer, a red device slid out from a slot. Taking it out, the Professor proudly handed it over to Bonnie.

"And there you go! You're all set for the League."

"Alright!" Bonnie jumped for joy; Dedenne followed suit. "This is it! I'm finally a Pokemon Trainer!"

"Good. So now, here come the rules." The Professor's words came like joy killers as Bonnie and Dedenne dropped back down, waiting for the boredom to seep in.

"Ergh… Great…"

"Now, I know you've seen how a PokeDex works, but it's also important that you keep this device with you at all times. Without it, you will be unable to participate in Gym matches." The possibilities of disqualification had suddenly struck Bonnie like a bolt of Thundershock, snapping her back to her attentive mode. "So always remember to keep it safe."

"I will." Bonnie's firm stance was all the group needed to hear.

"Also, if you do happen to lose your PokeDex, always contact me. I might just be able to help you out. Though I can't guarantee it would solve all of your problems." Bonnie gulped at Professor Sycamore's words. Now, she really had to clutch her device hard enough that it might break.

"And that is all about the PokeDex. Now, onto the Poke Balls." Bonnie followed Professor Sycamore to the other side of the room, where she saw five red and white balls, each surrounded by a black ring and a little button in the middle. "Here they are. Your primary tool for capturing the various types and species of Pokemon you will find."

"Awesome!" She picked one up, feeling the thrill of having to throw one someday.

"And I have to remind you." Sycamore continued. "Not only will you be unable to proceed with standard procedure of choosing one of three compulsory Kalos starting Pokemon, but since you already have Dedenne as your Starter, you will automatically be given these five, instead of the usual six."

"Dedenne…" Dedenne somewhat made an apologetic face, much to Bonnie's confusion.

"What's wrong, buddy?" She gently rubbed Dedenne's chin, cheering up the Pokemon.

"It seems that Dedenne is kind of sorry that you can't pick any of the Starters here in the lab." Clemont deduced. Bonnie immediately smiled and picked up her Pokemon, bringing it close for a hug.

"Awww. Come on, Dedenne. You know there's no Pokemon in the world that could replace you!" However, as she rubbed on Dedenne some more, the little Pokemon had given her too much affection.

"YYEEEOOWWW!"

The Antenna Pokemon let out a powerful burst of electricity from his whiskers which gave Bonnie the shock of her life.

Left in a crisp, Bonnie puffed out a smoky cloud from her breath, swaying around painfully.

"See… What did I tell 'ya…? A real shocker…" She dizzily remarked.

Then, once she recovered, she took the five Poke Balls with her, stuffing them in her pocket. She then returned to Professor Sycamore, where he was back in his computer loading up a map of the entire Kalos region.

"Okay, Bonnie. Here's a map of the Kalos region." Bonnie looked up at the screen, mouth wide open as she scanned the vast and abundant beauty of the land she lived in. "I know you've had a long time travelling through Kalos before, but you might need to refresh your memory at some point. A map of the region will be available in this little device." He then handed to her a golden digital scroll; a Town Map that would help her navigate through the region.

"Thanks. Now I'll be sure to never get lost or left behind. Unlike some people…" She glared at her brother again, who took the action to argue back.

"Hey! I had to pack my tools for the situations we were getting to. I really needed my inventions."

"The inventions that all blew up…" Bonnie mocked in a 'matter-of-fact' tone. "Not to mention that you weren't great with names…"

"Hooh…" Clemont sulked, twiddling his fingers in defeat. Meyer just chuckled at his children's antics, but was really impressed with how Bonnie was getting the better of her brother.

Bonnie came back to Professor Sycamore to finalize the briefings of her new status as a Pokemon Trainer.

"And one last thing." She tuned in to what the Professor was about to say next. "Be sure to train hard and win that League!"

A short inspiring set of words. Nonetheless, Bonnie could hardly contain herself.

It was all coming to her now. She was now an official Pokemon Trainer ready to take on the League. She would follow in the footsteps of not only her idol, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, but also Serena of Vaniville and her brother Clemont of Lumiose City. With Dedenne by her side, she was going to beat the best among the rest.

She slowly made smile grow bigger as she then struck out a thumbs up and a toothy grin, almost like the one Ash always used to give.

In all of that, she was ready to go!

"Now, if there are no more questions, then I wish you the best, Bonnie!" With a bow from all members of the family, the three bid their farewells before walking out to exit the lab, leaving Sycamore behind to resume his research.

"Hmmmm… There has to be a way to solve this new Mega Evolution mystery… Curious…"

Once outside the lab, the family had coupled around for one last gathering.

It was not going to be easy this time, but they knew it was inevitable. Bonnie wanted this journey to happen if she wanted to be the strongest Trainer around, though not at Pokemon Master material like Ash targets, but she knew that meant saying goodbye to her beloved family.

This lovely family of hers had always been there to care for her, nursing her, watching over her and especially teaching the aspects of life and Pokemon. When Ash and Serena entered their lives, the family had never been more delighted. Even after two major crises in their lives, one that nearly tarnished their lives, and another that nearly destroyed then literally, they loved each other to the very end.

And now, ready to embark on her Pokemon journey, Bonnie had to leave behind the family she would always depend on. Sure there would be phone calls and messages, but not being with them physically was punching a hole in her heart.

Meyer was the best father a girl like her could have, always there to play with his daughter when her brother could not have the time to do and was the one who cared for her when they were… met with a family tragedy; one that they wished not to talk about… at least for a while.

But if she had to really express it, she would do it more to her dear brother. Clemont was always there to watch out for Bonnie whenever she would venture off to the unknown, making sure that she didn't end up in trouble. Unfortunately, due to his Gym duties, he could not follow her this time. She had to go on without his protection.

However, they all knew Bonnie was a grown-up girl. No more was she the vulnerable seven-year-old who, while having some pre-emptive experience in battling. seemed to be too young to battle, and always needed her brother for help. She was all set to venturing off on her own, accompanied by the little fuzzball of sparking power that was Dedenne.

"Well…" Bonnie sadly said. "I guess… this is it…" She then wiped off another tear.

"Mmmhmm…" Meyer lowered his head. The shadow of his cap loomed over his eyes as he sniffed and sniffed before… "OH MY GOSSHH!" He then roared in pure sadness as he enveloped his two children in a really tight embrace, a little too much for them to handle. "My babies are all grown up! I really never thought this day would come! My dear daughter finally taking on the world! I can't be anymore prouder!" As he sobbed some more, Clemont and Bonnie were both suffocating under their father's squishing grip.

"Th-that's really great, dad! But…" Clemont struggled to release himself, but was unable to finish his sentence.

"But… y-you're killing us…" Bonnie had to fill in for him, but their pleas went unheard by the crying father. Finally, after a few more seconds, they were finally free. They then returned the rather over-reacting embrace by hugging him the proper way. Thankfully, Meyer hugged them really gently this time. Once they separated, Bonnie then turned to face her brother.

"Hey, big bro…?" She said.

"Yeah, Bonnie?" responded Clemont, wiping away a few tears of his own.

"I just wanna ask you for a favour?"

"If this is about finding the perfect girl for me, then no thanks…" Clemont twitched in annoyance, knowing where this might turn to. But Bonnie shook her head.

"Mmhmm." She then mustered a bright smile at him. "Not this time." Clemont sighed in relief and turned back to Bonnie, eager to listen. "Since I'm starting my journey as a Pokemon Trainer, I wanna…"

"Wanna what?"

Suddenly, with a sharp look on her face, she grinned at Clemont, giving the look he knew all too well.

"I, Bonnie Edison, challenge you, my brother, to a Pokemon battle!"

 **And so, the first step to Bonnie's journey to becoming the greatest Pokemon Trainer has finally begun. Now all she has to do is challenge her brother and prove herself ready to challenge the world! See what happens as the journey begins!**

 **A/N~ And that was it! Hope it was well enough for a start. Feel free to review the chapter in case I have missed anything important! And yeah, I had to give the family's last name from a well-known inventor, so I chose one of the best inventors I could find.**

 **Plus, it was kind of hard to give Bonnie a new outfit now that she's ten. But I do enjoy developing her character. After being with Ash and the gang for so long, I like to think that she would adopt some of their traits, so I had to combine them all for her. And this would all eventually lead to further development in her character.**

 **And this is indeed my first Pokémon-only fic, so I might mess up at some points, but always feel free to remind me of my mishaps** **And again, I hope it was enough to get you interested!**

 **As always, thank you in advance for the support and I shall see you guys in the next chapter!**


	2. A Beginner's Test

**Chapter 2: A Beginner's Test**

Lumiose City,

Kalos,

3 AFC,

The two siblings stood at each side of an outdoor battle court, staring at each other while their father stood in the middle at the side of the court.

On the left side, the Pokemon Trainer who was about to get her first taste of a genuine Pokemon battle. Bonnie balled her hand into a fist, giving a confident smile with eyebrows furrowed down, showing her full battle mode. Hoping to prove to the other combatant that she would be able to give him the best battle she can do.

Meanwhile, Clemont, at the other end of the field, gave his sister the same look on his face. Though he is a loving and protective big brother, he would give his sister a battle to remember before her real journey kicked off. For years, Bonnie stood at the sidelines, watching her brother and their friends battle as a spectator, while also training her Dedenne to use his skills on inanimate 'opponents'. Now, she was not watching a battle. She was in it.

However, it was still her first battle, so Clemont agreed to use only one of his Pokemon to battle her only partner.

Meyer stood firm and prepared, waiting to give the call to begin the match between brother and sister and ensure the match is done fair and square. With his arms spread out, he was about to say the word.

"The match between Clemont and Bonnie, two of my beloved children, shall now begin!" He announced, though with a little fatherly love for the both of them. But since they were well under way, Meyer thrust down his arms and began the match. "BEGIN!"

"Alright!" Clemont pushed his spectacles up with his finger, which gave off a shining glittering effect, and deployed his Poke Ball. In his hand, the spherical capsule, tiny enough to be pinched upon, enlarged to fit in his whole grasp with the click of a button. "Quilladin! You're up, buddy!"

Clemont threw the ball to the ground in front of him and it opened up, shooting out a white flash of light that hit the dirt. A figure began to form out of the light as it faded away, revealing a chubby green and brown hedgehog-like Pokemon with a bit of fur sticking out above its nose.

With a cheerful cry, the plump Pokemon jumped in the air and stood by for battle.

The Quilladin, who was once the small, cute and always hungry Chespin, had evolved some time before during a Gym match. It was still as energetic as it was before, but its obsession for food was clearly evident by its current physique. Clemont used to think that Bonnie would thought the Grass-Type would have been cuter unevolved, but this was her he was talking about. Every Pokemon she saw was cute.

But Quilladin was still a force to be reckoned with, used sometimes by Clemont during his battles against more powerful Trainers entering his Gym.

Now, though, Quilladin stood as Bonnie's first challenge. She really wanted to do no harm to her friend, but for this once, she would have to prove herself.

Ready for battle, she turned her fedora around and threw her finger at the field, which Clemont recognized as yet another habit from Ash as he would do the same with his cap. Not really sure if Bonnie really needed to spin her fedora since the circumference was perfectly consistent, but if it helped her confidence, then there's really no trouble arguing.

"Dedenne! I choose you!"

"Dene!" The little mouse Pokemon leapt from Bonnie's shoulder and landed on the battlefield, facing his old friend for the first time as an opponent.

The two Pokemon glared at each other, waiting for their Trainers to make the first order. After a brief moment of calculation, Clemont was the one to start first.

"Quilladin! Use Vine Whip!"

Quilladin heeded its Trainer's call and launched a pair of thick long green vines from its back, zooming them towards Dedenne.

"Dodge it!" Bonnie called upon her Dedenne, just as they practiced, to scurry away from the attack and ran right forward, letting the vines crash into the ground behind him. Instinctively, the little Pokemon charged right for Quilladin with a surprising amount of speed.

"Okay! Let's go with Tackle!" Dedenne complied as he continued to speed forward and pounced on the spiny Pokemon in the belly. With full force, the impact was enough to push Quilladin back to a safe distance. Once he finished up the attack, Dedenne rushed back to his Trainer before Clemont could follow up with his next order.

"Yes! Great work, Dedenne!" Bonnie balled her hands into fists and jumped for joy, with her Pokemon copying her excitement. But there was no time to celebrate, so the two snapped out of their celebrations and resumed to battle.

"Not bad, Bonnie. But you'll have to do better than that! Quilladin, Pin Missile!"

Quilladin took in lots of strength in its body before unleashing it with a barrage of sharp and bright mini-missiles. The projectiles all converged and headed straight for Dedenne, who could not escape fast enough to avoid the blast, much to Bonnie's dismay.

"Yikes! Run aw-!" But it was too late. The missiles managed to knock the little mouse Pokemon off his feet and sent it flying. In mid-air, Dedenne made a back flip and landed safely on the ground, eager for more.

At this point, Bonnie clenched her fist and frowned. She was now feeling the pressure of a heated battle, especially when things get rough for her Pokemon. Watching Dedenne taking the hit was not easy for her, but she tried to make sure her confidence did not cloud her skills.

With a firm stance, she checked on Dedenne's condition from afar.

"You okay, Dedenne?"

"Dene!" The Pokemon nodded, also determined to see this battle through.

"Then let's give him a good dose of your Thundershock!"

"Dede… NNEE!" With a good charge of its power, Dedenne channelled the electricity in its body into its red cheeks before unleashing a surge of electric bolts right towards Quilladin.

"Rollout!" But Clemont came prepared. Watching the strike coming forth, Quilladin obeyed and curled up into a ball. Once the Thundershock hit the Pokemon, it simply bounced off from its protective shell.

"Huh?!" Bonnie was baffled by the result, seeing the attack simply doing no effect. Dedenne shared his partner's shock. Things then turned worse when Quilladin, still rolled up, and within the speed of light, raced towards Dedenne, threatening to slam into him.

"Dedenne, make a leap for it!" Dedenne quickly jumped away from the incoming ball of danger and escaped from being squashed or bashed at. Rolling away, Dedenne was ready to deliver another attack, with Bonnie also prepared to say the word.

"Good job! Now let's…" But before she could even utter, she suddenly spotted the rampaging ball quickly going at Dedenne again, rolling thunderously with haste. "Huh?!"

"Dede?!" Dedenne also caught on with as much surprise, and acted upon instinct, barely skipping away from the threat. However, just when he thought it was over twice, Quilladin repeatedly rolled out, zooming to and fro, forcing Dedenne to do nothing but run, jump and scurry some more.

"Oh no! If this keeps up, Dedenne's going to get roadkilled!" Bonnie panicked as she desperately thought of a way to break the cycle and let Dedenne catch up.

"Okay. Think… Think, Bonnie, think!" But in doing so, she was giving Quilladin more time to attempt multiple hits on the nimble Dedenne. She thought harder and harder, but every second she took was making her even more anxious.

Clemont, looking from the other side, was able to notice that his sister was struggling to maintain her composure. He saw as she stomped her feet and lightly bashing her head expecting an answer to just pop up. It was clear to him that Bonnie indeed had a lot to learn.

"Argh!" Finally, Bonnie had had enough. "I got it! Dedenne, use Thundershock! Blast it all around you!"

After barely avoiding another strike from Quilladin, Dedenne quickly made his move and fired another Thundershock around itself; the bolts zapping away at all directions. Unfortunately, none of them hit their mark with Quilladin being able to roll away to safety and back to its Trainer.

Bonnie cringed, clearly wanting at least one to hit Quilladin, but at it was enough to put a stop to Rollout for a while. Nevertheless, the anxiety remained. Just moments ago, she was bursting with high spirits, eager to fight a good battle. Now, though, she was already experiencing a nervous breakdown. The Trainer then flicked her hat back up after being swung around from the suspense and resumed her attention to Dedenne, now with hopes of getting a one up.

"Dedenne, use Tail Whip!" Bonnie called. Dedenne dashed towards his opponent again and swung its tail at its face. While it was about to strike, the tail flashed in a dim white light before making contact. It was a small and ticklish hit, but it was enough to distract the spiky Pokemon. It could feel its energy slowly draining from the hit as Dedenne landed back down.

"I dunno if this is enough, but using Tail Whip will help lower Quilladin's defense for Dedenne." Bonnie thought to herself, trying to gain some form of positivity in her battle style.

"Okay! Use Vine Whip!" It was then Clemont's turn to attack as Quilladin unleashed its dual Vine Whips on Dedenne.

"Dodge!" Bonnie shouted again, making the Pokemon escape the attack and the whips boring into the dirt. The rodent Pokemon hopped back to his Trainer before spinning around for another run.

Retracting its whips back, Quilladin prepared for its Trainer's next command.

"Okay, Quilladin. Let's keep it up!" Clemont, though wishing to go a little lighter on his sister, gave another order for his Pokemon. He really needed to show Bonnie that battling required a lot of patience and composure, but at the rate she went, it was slowly becoming obvious that she was losing her balance. So, he had to go on, hoping that his style of battle can help her learn something from it. "Leech Seed!"

Quilladin pulled in his strength and fired a single little seed to the ground. Bonnie was quick to spot the seed and alerted Dedenne of the troubling matter.

"Dedenne! Use Thundershock to blast that seed away!"

"Dede… NEEE!" Dedenne fired its electric attack once again, hoping to somehow hit the seed before it could reach the ground below him. However, even with all that power, the bolts did not even faze the seed. With no trouble at all, the seed hit the ground below Dedenne's feet. Then, within a second, Dedenne was suddenly wrapped up in a trio of strong roots, trapping him in an unbreakable grip.

The Pokemon cried out in desperation, trying to escape. Then, with its patience running out, Dedenne fire its Thundershock… without his Trainer's command. Trying to break free, it continued to fire and fire again. However, he was only losing more and more energy as the Leech Seed did its work at sapping away at his power.

"Dedenne! Wait!" Bonnie tried to call out to her Pokemon to calm down, but in her own sense of distress, she too had panic in her voice.

With the roots then sucking up Dedenne's energy, the rodent Pokemon was slowly getting weaker, with energy then being siphoned back into Quilladin.

All in all, this battle was starting to get hopeless. Bonnie was unable to shake off her discouragement as she was forced to watch Dedenne being sucked out of his power. The Pokemon began to move even less as Bonnie was also losing her will to fight.

Clemont saw it all. Bonnie was going to lose it. Unfortunately, it was time for him to call it off. There was going to be no backing down, however. He already declared that he would fight his sister the proper way, so he was going to finish it the proper way.

"I'm sorry, Bonnie. But I'm going to have to end this. Quilladin, finish this up with Vine Whip."

With a little hesitation from watching his own friend being drained of his energy, Quilladin had no choice. It then complied and fired its Vine Whips at the trapped and weakened Dedenne.

A direct hit.

Dedenne was then hurled towards Bonnie, who watched helplessly as Dedenne tumbled to the ground… and fainted; eyes swirling and unable to fight anymore.

"Dedenne is unable to battle!" Meyer, also struck with sadness for his daughter's plight, called the battle off. "The winner of this round is Clemont."

Quilladin pulled back its whips, but even if it had won, it did not feel any better from it. Instead, it just frowned, looking at its downed friend.

Bonnie could not hold in her emotions any longer. She walked slowly to pick up her injured Pokemon and knelt to the ground. Though she did not shed any tears, she still felt heavy inside.

Her first battle was a defeat…

With Dedenne in her arms, she brought him in closer for a hug, brushing the poor Pokemon with her cheek.

"Oh, Dedenne…" Then, she finally had a tear dripping down her face. "I'm.. so s-sorry." She whispered to Dedenne while she sobbed. It was not the part of her losing the battle that saddened her. It was her inability to watch out for Dedenne when he needed her the most. She let her eagerness for battle take a toll on her composure and it let her become blind to any potential dangers. She felt that she had let her Pokemon, and her family down.

"Bonnie…" Clemont could also feel Bonnie's pain. Just watching his sister cry in front of him was always such a heart-wrenching moment, but he stood strong in his belief that this battle would help Bonnie learn about battling.

Meyer walked over to comfort his daughter, pulling her and Dedenne in for an embrace. Clemont, wanting to join, reached for his backpack and pulled out his bottle of Potion.

He then reached over to Bonnie and looked at the bruised Dedenne in her arms. Bonnie saw her brother coming before sniffing up. She lowered her head in shame, not wanting her brother to see her in this state.

"I'm… sorry, big bro." She stuttered. "I… lost this battle." Clemont wanted to say something to comfort her, but she interrupted him, wanting to say more. "I let myself get carried away by the battle that I allowed Dedenne to get hurt because of me. I failed to help my Pokemon, and I failed to make myself any better. I'm a lousy Trainer." She sobbed some more, prompting Meyer to tighten his embrace.

"No, Bonnie." Then, Bonnie looked up at her brother, who looked back at her with a calm yet serious tone. "You are not a lousy Trainer." He then took hold of Dedenne while Meyer separated from the defeated duo. Spraying the bottle of soothing Potion, he then bent down to Bonnie's level. "You may have lost this battle, but you can't let it get to your head."

As he finished spraying, Dedenne slowly moved painfully. Bonnie then reached for her partner and cradled him in her arms while listening to her brother.

"You are going to have to face defeats in your journey, Bonnie, and as painful as they may be, you need to learn how to compose yourself and remain calm for your Pokemon."

Bonnie took a good look at Dedenne again, seeing that his eyes were half-opened but was still struggling to withstand the pain left on his body. While Bonnie cringed at seeing her Pokemon going through his pain, she still paid attention to Clemont.

"If you're unable to control your emotions and end up losing your focus, then how do you expect your Pokemon to fight?"

The words stung Bonnie. She knew Clemont was right after what she had seen before with everyone she knew, and here she was being unable to follow their example.

"I'm sorry, bro." Bonnie apologized. "I really wanted to remain focused in my battle, but it was… just too painful to watch Dedenne… get hurt." She then groaned before standing back up, but she was unaware that she had dropped her fedora in the process.

Clemont, not giving up on curing Bonnie of her depression, led her to a nearby chair followed by Meyer. They all sat down, with the males holding onto Bonnie to keep her company.

"Now, Bonnie. You're not the only one who's had their first taste of defeat. Everyone does." Meyer explained. "Why, I used to be all down in the dumps when I lost my first battle." Bonnie stop wiping away her tears and looked to her father, understanding her family's need to help her. "But I knew that if I continued to be the saddest boy in the world, then who am I to be as a Trainer?"

"Dad's right." Clemont agreed. "Even I was upset over my first loss. But then Helioptile wanted me to remain strong as it never wanted to give up for me." Bonnie then turned to Clemont. "And of course, you remembered when Ash lost his first Gym Battle with Viola, right? He never gave up. He took the loss and learnt upon it. But his Pokemon, and us, never gave up on him. He practiced hard and eventually he won. And every Gym Battle after that, he learnt from his losses and earned from his victories. You know what he used to say, right?"

Bonnie remained silent for another while, but this time, she was taking her time to remember all the times she had spent watching Ash battle his way to the Kalos League three years ago. There were times when he too had become depressed over his falls, but when he had his friends by his side, he got back up and took on the challenges again.

If Ash could rise from defeat, then Bonnie knew she had to do it too.

Then, she looked at Dedenne and saw that the Pokemon was smiling at her, not so brightly due to the hurt, but it was enough to show Bonnie how much it really loved her. And that love had cheered the sad Trainer up.

Overcoming her depression, she then looked into the sky and delivered the first smile she had since her disastrous battle, with her confidence returning to her. With all her strength, she said the same words which inspired Ash, and her friends, to this day.

"Never give up until it's over!"

Bonnie then gave her family a double hug, grateful that they were there to heal her wounds. The two men returned the embrace, feeling glad that Bonnie was all better.

As they separate, Quilladin came on over to Bonnie. In its hand, a brown and yellow fedora. Bonnie placed Dedenne in her father's care before standing up to retrieve it. She had no hard feelings for her brother's Pokemon and to prove it, she rubbed its head affectionately as Quilladin chirped in happiness.

Clemont and Meyer smiled at Bonnie's affection. Even if she was beginning to inhibit many styles and habits from her brother and her friends, she was still the same caring Bonnie who loved Pokemon to death.

Taking the fallen fedora from Quilladin, she proudly wore it back on her head and flicked the flap of the hat.

"Win or lose, I will battle to be the second greatest Trainer of all!"

Bonnie declared with pride, while also allowing some of the hope for her old friend and future Pokemon Master.

* * *

The day was still young. While Clemont's Potion did manage to heal Dedenne, the family knew that they had to bring the still weakened Pokemon to the care of Nurse Joy at the Pokemon Centre.

In the building, Clemont and Meyer sat at a waiting area reading some magazines to pass the time, while Bonnie sat on another chair playing with Quilladin and Clemont's other Pokemon, Bunnelby, Luxray and Heliosk.

It was always fun to play with Clemont's Pokemon, despite them being at higher evolution stages. She would find time to have fun with them while Clemont was not busy at the Gym. This interaction helped Bonnie learn more about socializing with Pokemon outside of battle, as well as getting to know more about how evolution worked. But even with all that new power and strength, they would always remain the same young little critters to her.

By the time she was done, Nurse Joy, dressed in a pink dress behind a white apron and a nurse cap to top it off, called Bonnie to the counter. The Trainer rushed to the counter where she saw the nurse with a Wigglytuff next to her. Dedenne, fully healed by the looks of him, was sitting as cheery as ever. Upon seeing each other, the Pokemon and Trainer embraced.

"Oh, Dedenne!" Bonnie cheered. "You're all better now!"

"Dene!" The Pokemon nuzzled, which then…

"WWAAAAHHH!" Bonnie danced crazily as the electricity raced through her nerves. Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff jumped at the sudden embrace while Clemont and Meyer just laughed it off. It was a little worrisome for them, but Clemont then remembered hearing what Ash would go through when his Pokemon start to shower him with their love… and bodies.

"Eeeeergghhh…." Bonnie swayed around and around while Dedenne just snickered at her.

With that out of the way, Nurse Joy then called Bonnie again.

"Bonnie." The girl, who returned to her normal self, walked up to the nurse. "First, I would like to wish you a happy birthday, and congratulations for your first day as a Pokemon Trainer." The nurse smiled happily for the Trainer, which caused Bonnie to smile twice as much.

"Thanks so much, Nurse Joy!" Bonnie clapped her hands together while Dedenne cheered from above her hat.

"Dene!" he shouted.

"So, what's next?" Bonnie inquired for the next news.

"Oh. Well, as it so happens you happen to have a couple of phone calls waiting for you."

"Really?!" Bonnie's eyes sparkled. "Who were they from?! Do tell me! Please!"

"Calm down, Bonnie." Nurse Joy sheepishly waved her hands, trying to calm down the hyper Trainer. "You can call them back through the video phone over there." She then pointed to the phone booth at the other end of the room with a video screen on each phone. "You'll find out for yourself." With a wink, Nurse Joy returned to her duties with Wigglytuff.

Excitement rushed through her blood as Bonnie raced to the video phone to call back the people who attempted to contact her.

Then, Clemont got up to follow her, knowing exactly who the people were. Meyer nodded at him, wanting the two siblings to the contacts.

Bonnie reached for the phone and looked through the call log for any calls meant for her, marked by her registration account. Then, she saw two numbers that had her name next to them.

She looked at the first number and dialled it in. She then waited for the phone at the other end to pick up. Once done, the call was answered and the screen popped up. Bonnie's smile grew bigger to see the person's face at the screen.

"Serena!" she cheered, very delighted to see the honey blonde girl who had travelled with her all those years ago.

"Dedenne!" Dedenne was also thrilled to see the Performer.

"Hey, Bonnie and Dedenne!" Serena greeted with a sweet voice. "Oh my gosh! Look at you! You look… beautiful!"

"Hehehe. Thanks!" Bonnie fiddled with the hair as she blushed at the compliment. "And what about you, you're looking gorgeous!" Bonnie returned the comment with another one with double the charm.

It was then Serena's turn to blush. Indeed, the Pokemon Performer, who was still aiming to be Kalos Queen, was now in her teen years. She was now wearing a strapped black sundress a white collar almost identical to her old outfit. After previously having cut her hair, she had now made it grow back longer again, but it was tied up to a ponytail much like Bonnie's.

However, what remained the same were two accessories. The first was the red and black fedora that she had worn ever since her first journey. However, the more important accessory was a blue ribbon now tied to her wrist; a special something from a special someone.

"And my, do you and Dedenne look like a team already!"

"We are a team, aren't we, buddy?"

"I heard from Clemont that today is your tenth birthday. So I thought I'd come up for the phone to wish a very happy birthday!"

"Awww, thanks Serena. I- Wait!" Bonnie was about to feel thankful for Serena's call, but when Serena mentioned that Clemont had called her before, she couldn't help but feel a little betrayed. "You got to talk to Clemont?!"

"Y-yeah…" Then, Bonnie, still stern, turned to find her brother rubbing the back of his head, feeling a little guilty about not giving Bonnie an earlier chance to speak to her old friend. "I did actually talk to Serena just yesterday."

"Hmph! And you never bothered to invite me to the chat." Bonnie pouted her cheeks, amusing both Serena and her brother.

"Actually, I wanted Serena's call to be a surprise for your birthday, so I told Serena to wait until today as a birthday treat."

In an instant, Bonnie immediately cheered up, smiling widely at her brother for considering a proper moment for Bonnie to catch up with the Performer. Forgiving her brother, the Trainer returned to her conversation with her friend.

"I'm really proud of you, Bonnie." praised Serena. "You're about to face some really powerful Trainers, but I know you will prevail like Ash did!"

"I'll show 'em a real battle!" Bonnie fisted her hand, proving her determination, but her sudden confidence had moved her hair bang a little to touch her cheek. She then brushed it aside to its proper place. Serena noticed the girl's action and giggled sweetly.

"I see you still care about your looks. You sure you don't want to be a Performer like me?" she laughed.

"I really wish I could, but after watching Clemont in his Gym battles, I know that being a battler suits my taste. Though I won't deny that Performances are still so extravagant!" admitted Bonnie.

"Well, if that's how you feel, then go for it!" encouraged Serena. "Just remember to maintain your bond with your Pokemon and love them to bits. Watch out for them as they do for you."

Then, Serena fell silent. Bringing her two pointing fingers together, she felt unsure whether to ask Bonnie a certain question playing around in her head.

"Oh yeah, um… Bonnie…?" She continued on when Bonnie noticed a hint of shyness in her face and voice. "Did you… happen to catch Ash by any chance?"

"Hmmm… Well, not really." It seemed that Bonnie answered the question in a normal tone, but then, listening to her guts from examining Serena's expressions, a dark side emerged. "Oh… why do you ask?" Mischievous with her voice, Bonnie opted to ask a very unsettling question, much to Serena's chagrin.

"Ergh! Well, it was… uh… just that I wanted to catch up with him too! Yeah! That's it!" Serena frantically answered, adding more fire to Bonnie's playtime.

"Oh really… Missing your little crush I see?" Bonnie then puckered her lips, making mocking kissing gestures that intensified Serena's blushes. Clemont quickly decided to put an end to her taunting.

"Bonnie… That wasn't really nice…" Bonnie puffed her cheeks again, unhappy that her brother had become something of a real killjoy.

"Oh... It's okay, Clemont. Really. Bonnie's just being herself." Serena insisted. Her long time crush on Ash had been so obvious to Bonnie that she couldn't help but fool around with her.

"But seriously though, when are you ever going to tell him about your… ahem… feelings?" Bonnie then perked up to ask Serena again about how she was going to confess to the boy. Poor Serena. Ash was always as dense as the skin of an Onix. He just did not get what Serena had been trying to say to him.

"I…" Serena stuttered. "I'll tell him when the time comes, okay?" Bonnie looked at Serena's troubled look. While she did feel that reminding Serena of Ash was necessary for her happiness, she did feel sorry for making her feel bad for the moment.

So, to cheer her up, Bonnie gave Serena a thumbs up and a cry of encouragement for her future attempts.

"Then in that case, good luck with him!"

Serena looked at Bonnie and couldn't help but smile gratefully. The expression and cheery attitude of the younger girl really reminded her more of Ash; the way he made that devilish grin that always kept everyone, especially her, in high spirits. Seeing that in Bonnie made Serena a really happy woman.

"Thanks, Bonnie." She thanked her for her kindness.

"Just what were you guys talking about anyway?" As always, Clemont made Bonnie a little disappointed that he could not see the bigger picture. Then again, was there any doubt that he wouldn't know what went on between Serena and Ash?

The fact that he was pulling Bonnie away from every one of her attempts to help him woo girls was enough for the young Trainer to prove her point.

"You wouldn't understand, Clemont. You're as dense as Ash is." Bonnie waved her arms to her sides and teased her big brother, who still fell confused. Serena laughed at the two, remembering how much the two would bicker about these kind of things.

Finally, though as much as she wished to continue the talk, Serena had to leave the call to attend to her usual business.

"Well, it's been fun, but I gotta rush. I have a Performance coming up and I really need to prepare for the competition. Turns out that one of my opponents is a really talented Coordinator from Sinnoh. And she has the cutest Piplup I've ever seen!"

"Do send me a picture of it when you can! And all the best in your Performances in Hoenn!" cheered Bonnie.

"Will do and thanks! And good luck to you as well for your Gym Battles!" Serena then turned to Clemont. "You too, Clemont! Have fun with the Gym! You must be really proud of Bonnie for making this journey."

"Oh I am, alright." he agreed. "And good luck out there. Will see you real soon, right?"

"I'll be sure to call again when I get back home! See you later, guys!" Serena gave one last wave to the group.

"Bye!" The siblings bid farewell.

"Dene!" Dedenne followed suit.

"And be sure to tell Ash I said hello!" With one last tease from Bonnie, Serena blushed lightly again before smiling back at her.

"Oh, Bonnie…"

After that, the call ended and the screen was shut off.

Bonnie put the phone down for a while as she remembered fondly of Serena.

The Pokemon Performer was something like a big sister to Bonnie, always spending time playing with the little lass and teaching her how to care for Dedenne. Surely enough, it was thanks to Serena that Bonnie became such a caretaker to her Dedenne and Clemont's Pokemon. But underneath that beauty and charm, Serena was a real sucker for that one boy she met as a toddler.

How long did the girl try to say something to Ash? It seemed like forever to Bonnie. However, if that one time when Serena pulled herself together and actually kiss Ash on the cheek in the airport proved anything, it was that there was a lot of hope left for her to confess her love.

Somehow, Bonnie wondered if she could have helped Serena realize her feelings for Ash. All that time she spent love match-making for her brother, she could have done the same for her other two friends. Feeling a slight sense of regret, she vowed that one day, if the time came, she would help Serena make Ash the happiest man alive. Every Queen's got have a King right?

However, what mattered to her most was that Serena was on her way to achieving her dreams, just as Bonnie was herself.

Then, with her time with Serena over, Bonnie then moved to contact the next person. She dialled in the number and waited for it to get picked up. It took a little longer than Serena's call, but she was really roused to speak to this person, for she had a gut feeling that she knew who it was. Surely enough, it was that person.

"Ash!" Bonnie and Clemont both smiled to see the ever-so messy but powerful Trainer in the screen, accompanied by his most trusted partner, a Pikachu.

"Alola, Bonnie! Clemont! Dedenne!" The raven-haired Trainer shouted at the other end.

"Pika Pika!" As always, Pikachu followed his Trainer's actions.

"Huh?" The weird word, however, confused the siblings.

"That means 'hello' here in the Alola region." explained Ash.

"Pika Pika Chu!" Pikachu then said hello again to the group.

"Hello to you too, Pikachu!" Bonnie greeted.

"Dedenne!" The little mouse also had its turn to say hi to his big brother figure.

"So, Ash. How is the Alola region so far?" asked Clemont. Judging by Ash's clothes; a simple white and blue T-shirt to go with his trademark red hat, it looked like Ash was in a tropical environment somewhere.

"It's been fantastic! I've been learning a lot here in Pokemon school with Pikachu and a whole new group of friends." Ash explained to the two.

"Pokemon School? They have that?" Bonnie, to everyone's unknowing, gulped at such a stupid question. Of course they would have Pokemon Schools… Why wouldn't they? People are supposed to learn more about Pokemon, so it would make sense to build facilities specialized for teaching youngsters about the world of Pokemon.

"Yeah!" But Ash, simple as always, did not seem to mind the question. "And did I mention that all the new Pokemon here are just super! Take a look here!" "Say hi to one of my newest additions, Decidueye!"

Ash then moved to the side and showed the group a tall and grassy owl-like Pokemon standing on two feet and covered in a shroud and hood made up of leaves. It remained quiet, but gave a small bow to the group.

"Oh my gosh! That is so cute!" Bonnie's expression brightened up at the sight of a brand new Pokemon she had never seen at all.

"Haha! Thought you might say that." Ash laughed at Bonnie's expression. "So, today's your tenth birthday, huh? Happy birthday!"

"Pika Pika!"

"Thanks, you guys!"

"Dene!"

"And wow. You're finally going on your very own Pokemon journey! I'm sure you're feeling pumped up and ready to take on the Gym Leaders now!" Ash raised a fist for Bonnie, wondering about the same amount of determination and fire he had when he took on Leagues before.

"Oh, you bet I am! Me and Dedenne are going to wipe the floor off them!" And Bonnie, complying with her idol, copied his gesture.

"De Dedenne!" Her Pokemon also mimicked Pikachu's synchronization with his Trainer.

"I just got my registration checked, got my PokeDex and Poke Balls, and…" Then, Bonnie fell a little quieter than her previous demeanour. "I… kinda lost to a battle with Clemont."

Despite her acceptance with her defeat, she could not help but feel a little down by the event.

"Hey, Bonnie." Ash saw her expression and immediately went to work and what he did best. "It's okay to lose a battle. Remember, always train with your Pokemon and bond with them. Make them stronger and learn from your defeats. Just like I've done when I lost the Kalos League."

Ash's comforting words invoked more positivity into Bonnie's heart. The young man had always been there to show Bonnie the ropes of being a Pokemon Trainer even at a young age, and now, she would be able to use that knowledge to help her on her path to becoming a great Pokemon Trainer.

With her mind now clear of her sorrows again, Bonnie gave a very warm smile to Ash.

"I know, Ash." she gratefully spoke. "And I promise, I will make you proud!" Her thumb was up again, followed by a sparking Dedenne.

"Dene!"

"Hahaha! That's the spirit!" Ash laughed at his friend's regained positivity.

"Pika Chu!"

"And when I come back to Kalos, I'll be sure to have a Pokemon battle with you so you can show me how much you've learnt!"

Bonnie could see it now. Her being at a Pokemon battle with none other than her own idol. It was certainly a dream come true!

"I'll be waiting!" She declared, dedicated for the day she will challenge Ash.

"And Clemont." Ash then turned his attention to the older brother. "Make sure you give Bonnie your all when she challenges you at the Gym!"

"Don't worry, Ash." Clemont also said. "While she may be my sister, I'm confident that she'll eat my dust before I can say 'Eureka!'"

"Hey! That's my catchphrase!" Bonnie ranted at her brother, who sheepishly apologized to his sister.

"Pika! Pika Pika Chu!" Pikachu then gave some squeaks of encouragements to his fellow Electric-Type. Dedenne responded by jumping in front of the screen and did a high-five at it, letting Pikachu to do the same.

Then, the siblings could hear a ringing sound wailing from the phone. Ash turned around and realized it was time for him to depart for class.

"Okay. There's the bell. I gotta get to class. Sorry I can't talk more. You guys take care now, alright?" Ash waved to his friends.

"We will!" The siblings simultaneously waved back to him.

"And Bonnie…" But before he was going to leave, Ash decided to give Bonnie one last bit of words to help her set off in the right direction. "Just remember, when things get tough…"

Bonnie grinned when she quickly remembered what Ash was going to say to her, following up by finishing it with him; the two saying the exact same word together.

"Never give up until it's over!"

Once done, Ash was ready to go.

"See ya, guys!" He waved to his travelling partners, hoping to catch them again sometime soon.

"Bye!"

"Pika Pika Chu!"

"Dedenne!"

"Oh!" Bonnie quickly interjected, which thankfully, Ash managed to stay a little longer. "And be sure to give Serena a call. She misses you a lot." Bonnie mocked the Trainer, expecting him to take it like a general request.

"Oh, Serena!" However, as it turned out… "She… missed me? Oh, okay… Uh… Alright. I'll call her soon then! Alola!"

That was certainly unexpected, Bonnie thought. Either she was feeling strange herself, or did she just see Ash, dense old Ash Ketchum, blush? At the mention of Serena?

Now that was an interesting turn in her quest to help Serena with her love problems…

The phone call was now over. Bonnie put down the phone and followed Clemont back to their father.

From these phone calls alone, she was now feeling extra determined to make her friends and family proud of her achievements and her spirit for adventure was now raised thanks to words of encouragement by Ash and Serena. Just how great it would be when they return to Kalos!

With a new more confident spirit, Bonnie was now feeling extra ready to take on her first journey to the Kalos League.

* * *

The morning turned to afternoon as the Sun now rose right above the city. As the metropolis became more active, outside the Edison house, the family was standing there.

Bonnie had already done what she needed to do in Lumiose City, at least for now. She had already gotten her registrations checked and her equipment and supplies all packed up. She then had her first battle, though not so pleasant, but it still gave her the first taste of what it was like to be in a battle and she would do her best to remember the lessons learnt from that experience.

And now, after being encouraged on by her loving family and her best friends, Bonnie was about to finally embark on her own.

Her first course was to head to Santalune City and challenge the Gym Leader known as Viola, as well as taking the Bug Badge as her first token of entering the Kalos League. In spite of that goal, though, she would need to make her party bigger in order to even the odds against the Gym Leader and her Bug-type Pokemon.

She looked out of the house and looked at the city around her. Her time of leaving was a much similar experience to what she had been through when she decided to follow Clemont in his quest to get stronger. However, things were different. She was now going off all by herself, accompanied by no one other than Dedenne and the future additions to her team that she hoped to find.

She then turned around back to her house. There, she saw her family standing outside the door, watching her embrace her new leash in life.

Suddenly, Bonnie could feel swelling up inside. Although she was excited to finally leave on her adventures, she was also feeling really sad knowing that she would have to leave them behind without having to see them almost every day. To muster up her courage, she came up to Clemont and Meyer, and gave them the biggest hug she had ever given them.

Tearing up, she tightened her embrace, letting her love for them take over. The two men returned her hug with just as much love.

"I'm really going to miss you guys." said Bonnie in between sobs and sniffs.

"We're going to miss you too, sweetie." Meyer answered with affection. "My baby's all grown up."

Meyer's little words caused Bonnie to put up a small giggle during her tears.

"Oh, dad…" She then let go of them and turned to the big brother who helped her all the way. She then gave him an extra hug for everything he had done for her.

"I'm really proud of you, sis." Clemont thankfully said to her. "You've really come a long way."

"Hey." Bonnie whispered to him. "We both changed for the better." She then separated from each other.

Bonnie, finally taking in one deep breath, stepped down from the house and walked out of the residence. Turning around, she gave one last look at her family and waved them goodbye. Dedenne ran up to her shoulder and followed her moves.

"I'll see you guys later! Goodbye!"

"Dedenne!" The two little tykes said their goodbyes as Clemont and Meyer waved back, wishing her all the best in her adventure.

"Take care, Bonnie! Don't get lost!" Meyer called from afar.

"And remember! Never give until the end!" Clemont added with Ash's catchphrase again.

Walking on until her family was out of sight from the street, Bonnie and Dedenne were now all alone. She took a good look at her Pokemon partner as it rubbed its cheek at her, but this time, did so without giving her a nasty shock. With Dedenne by her side, Bonnie was now well on her way. Looking up at the sky, she wondered to herself about all the wonderful things she would come across once she would leave Lumiose City.

"Well, Dedenne." She raised her elbow as Dedenne would run towards her arm to meet at the same level as her face. "It looks like we're finally ready to leave. You ready for this?"

"Dene!" The little furball raised its tiny arm in approval, ready to follow Bonnie all the way to victory.

Now, as Dedenne ran back to the safety of her hat, Bonnie looked forward, moving on towards the exit of the city where she would finally begin a brand new journey to become the second greatest Pokemon Trainer in the whole world!

* * *

 **After a rough start, Bonnie is finally ready to venture out into the Kalos region. What wonders would she stumble upon? What new discoveries are waiting to be found? And will she reach the very top? See what happens next as the journey continues!**

* * *

 **A/N~ And there goes Chapter 2! A real heavy moment at the battle between Clemont and Bonnie. Of course, it was her first battle so she would need to really get the picture of what it means to be a Pokemon Trainer and how to accept defeat. It was hard to write, simply not because I wanted it to be longer, but I wanted it to deliver as much emotion as I can for now.**

 **I still hope though that in future battles, I will write them longer and hopefully they will be enough. I really wished that her battle could be longer, but I still feel that how much I've written so far is enough for Bonnie.**

 **Also, it was also really exciting to add Ash and Serena for a few guest appearances to boost Bonnie up. Plus, a little shoutout to another favourite character of mine XD**

 **So for now, that shall be all for the second chapter. Stay tuned for the next one!**


	3. A Trainer's Catch

**Chapter 3: A Trainer's Catch**

Route 4,

Kalos,

3 AFC,

It had been an hour after she had finally begun her journey alone throughout the Kalos region and Bonnie was well on her way from the exit of Lumiose City, her home where she had left to make her family proud.

The young girl was full of energy after her emotional departure from her home, walking along the dirt route surrounded by lush forests, on her way to Santalune City for her first Gym Battle. She was with her backpack slumped to her back, filled with the inventory needed for her upcoming battles and catches.

Her Pokemon, Dedenne was curled up and sleeping well on top of her fedora, snoring silently like a Snubull after a well-eaten meal. Ever since it made itself at home in Bonnie old satchel, he seemed to have developed a distaste for being kept in a Poke Ball much like his senior figure Pikachu. Of course, Bonnie never minded, for Pokemon can develop many different tastes for how they wish to be kept or trained, so in the case of Dedenne and Pikachu, out of a Poke Ball is considered a lifestyle.

The pair made their way through the dense forest with the day still bright.

"Hrrrghh…" However, her first time alone was not without its complications. She was already halfway through the route to the next city, where she hoped to find a Pokemon Centre for her to catch her breath. Her legs were already in a sorry state; the muscles now losing hold as she started to slow down, desiring a good rest.

Without anyone else to grumble to for a stop, she found no problem resting under a tree, lying down against the bark while taking in breaths. Dedenne, however, was still asleep on top of her hat. Even long after he was kept under Bonnie's care, his sleepy habits remained. Hopefully, he would not end up sleeping on the job at the wrong time like the old days.

"I know walking all the way to Santalune City is going to be a real tiring experience, but this… is ridiculous!" She groaned in exhaustion, massaging her legs to relieve her stressed out limbs. "At least I made it halfway through the route."

"Dede Dene…" Dedenne drowsily squeaked, but Bonnie knew that by how he sounded, it was most likely a joke at her.

"Hmph. I know I've stopped like several times in the city alone, Dedenne." She crossed her arms. "You don't have to rub it in like that."

"Dene." The little Pokemon woke up from his slumber and crawled back down to his Trainer's lap.

"How would you like it when I get you down on your feet to the ground and walk all the way?"

"Dene." Despite Bonnie's attempt to make a point, Dedenne chirped joyfully. Bonnie, now wanting to argue, just rested her head down in defeat.

"Of course, you'd be climbing up a tree so I wouldn't catch you." Bonnie then grabbed for Dedenne and looked at him with a smile, sighing at her predicament. "Maybe I'm not really used to walking out on my own yet. Ash and Serena certainly had no problem walking along, and even Clemont could pull his overgrown bag of junk and make an entire route with no problem. Though he was always a bad runner when we needed to sprint." She giggled at her brother's weakness for long distance runs.

Finally taking yet another break before continuing her trek to Santalune City, Bonnie could lean her head against the tree, breathing in deeply. Dedenne curled up into a ball and slept off again on Bonnie's lap, peacefully snoring away.

While the Trainer breathed in and out, she closed her eyes and let her mind take over as she drifted into a small nap.

* * *

 _In her dreams, she was seen walking into a large stadium, showered by cheers of the crowd and confetti fluttering down on her and Dedenne. She waved back in triumph as she walked to the battlefield to meet her final opponent; her one final step into beating the Kalos League and fulfilling her goals._

 _As she took her place on one end of the field, she looked to her opposite side, watching as a figure emerged from out of the shadows. Once it was brought to the light, there she saw that her final opponent was none other than Ash Ketchum, with his Pikachu on his shoulder. The two role models smiled proudly at the eager Trainer, with Ash pulling out a Poke Ball from his pocket._

 _Bonnie responded by doing the same to deploy her Pokemon to battle. The two Trainers stared at each other with fiery eyes as they prepared to make the biggest battle in their times as Trainers._

 _With one strong throw, Bonnie tossed her Poke Ball out for battle. Ash did the same and launched his Poke Ball out to his front._

 _Bonnie was about to begin her battle, when suddenly…_

" _Huh?" Ash's Poke Ball, instead of hitting the ground, was getting closer and closer to her. It all happened in slow-motion as the Poke Ball was about to reach even nearer to her. Bonnie was not able to catch the ball fast enough but tried to dodge anyway. However, it was too late. The ball was just about to hit her face and…_

 **THUMP!**

* * *

"OW!" Bonnie leapt up from the massive force thrown at her, opening her eyes from her dream and crashed back down on the ground. Dedenne, who had been sleeping the whole time, was still snoozing even as Bonnie crept up from the hit to the face.

Bonnie, now well aroused from her slumber, rubbed her face frustratingly, trying to release herself from her distress of having her face slammed. While doing so, she had her eyes closed again as her hand rubbed up and down her forehead. Thus, the girl was quick to blame one little suspect, unaware that the rodent was still asleep on her lap.

"Okay?!" she screamed angrily. "What's the big idea, Dedenne?! I let you sleep on my lap for a few minutes and you have to-?! Huh?" Once she opened her eyes, all she could see of her little partner was that she was sound asleep, surprisingly undisturbed by Bonnie's outburst.

It was then that Bonnie remembered Dedenne's own sleeping habits. He would not even move an inch once he was asleep, unless he was awoken by anyone or when food was being smelled at. Being mischievous and going around throwing stuff at unsuspected victims was just not Dedenne's style.

"Okay…" Bonnie was now from utterly frustrated to downright confused. "If you didn't hit me with… whatever was crashed on my head, then what-?"

 **THUD!**

"Drgh!" From out of nowhere, another hit to her head. By now, Bonnie saw that, on the floor, she could see what looked like a couple of tiny berry seeds on the ground. One of the seeds shook around slightly before stopping altogether. The shaking was enough for Bonnie to recognize that the very objects that hit her were those little seeds. "Where in the world?"

Bonnie tried looking up at the trees to see if there were any Pokemon pulling a prank on her. Then, again, Bonnie was hit to the cheek by another seed. After being slightly blind-sided, she picked up to where the seed came from. The downward angle of the drop indicated to her that it definitely came from the trees above her.

She raised her head even more and there, up on the branches, she found the culprit to her troubles.

Perched up on a branch, she saw a brown bird with yellowish-white feathers stuck to its underbelly, followed by a black scythe-shaped patch around each of its eyes.

Bonnie immediately recognized what type of Pokemon the rascal happened to be. A very common sight in Kalos as there was never a day that went by for Bonnie without catching these Pokemon fluttering high in the sky.

"A Pidgey!" Despite the Pokemon's mischief, Bonnie's face brightened up at the sight of the bird Pokemon. She then buried through her pocket and pulled out the black PokeDex she was given to by Professor Sycamore not too long ago.

With the press of a button, she scanned the Pokemon, pointing it at Pidgey. In an instant, the device then opened up, split in two with a holographic screen in the middle which featured a picture of the Pokemon. The PokeDex then read out the details about it with a robotic female voice.

" _Pidgey. The Tiny Bird Pokemon. A common sight in almost every region in the world. It flaps its wings at ground level to kick up blinding sand._ "

The device closed back and turned off. Bonnie returned the PokeDex in her pocket and looked up upon the Pidgey in her sights. The Pokemon flapped its wings while staring at Bonnie with a look that could frighten a Scatterbug. Bonnie obviously knew that the Pidgey was intimidating her and it meant business should Bonnie come any closer, willing to defend its territory. Then again, if the PokeDex had given her any hints, the Pidgey would just fly away and leave them alone.

However, Bonnie was not going to let it go. She was going to capture it! Turning her hat around as a sign of determination, she grinned.

"Alright, Pidgey." She clenched her fists for that extra boost of power. "Get ready to become the first catch of Bonnie's grand party of victory! Dedenne!" She then called her Pokemon to arms. "Go get 'em!"

She turned around to look at Dedenne. Unfortunately, to her dismay. Dedenne was still fast asleep on the ground where she once was.

"Dedenne!" She called for Dedenne again, and yet still no response. Fed up, Bonnie walked towards him with a pout of her cheeks. She then bent down all the way to Dedenne's level, shaking him up with her hands.

"Hey. Wake up!" Once again, Bonnie bawled. "We've got our first Pokemon to catch." Desperately trying to wake Dedenne up, she even nuzzled him with her cheeks in the hopes that his electricity would shock her up so he could feel the surge as well.

 **BBZZZTTT!**

"YEEOOWWW!" Shocked as planned, Bonnie ended up becoming burnt with soot all over her and her hair puffed up like a really messy afro. Shaking herself up, Bonnie looked to her Dedenne, wondering if the shock woke him up.

She saw Dedenne… still snoozing.

"Oh! Come on!" She moaned. She could not believe the luck she was having. Of all the times to be getting the chance to catch her very first Pokemon, her own Starter was sleeping off, just as she feared a little while earlier.

 **THUD!**

And again, another seed spat at her. Bonnie could turn furiously and see the naughty little bird grinning at her.

Nevertheless, Bonnie would not let that get in the way. This was her one chance to catch her first Pokemon. Even if it was a common Pidgey, she persisted, remembering that Ash, for each region he had travelled in before, caught a Flying-Type to add to his team, and they all evolved into powerful soaring machines.

Determination burning up inside, Bonnie fished for one of the five Poke Balls she had, picking up one and enlarged it.

"Okay, Pidgey. Battle or no battle. You'll be mine for the taking!" She flashed out her Poke Ball, aiming right for the Pidgey. The bird stared intensely at the Trainer, hostilities rising. The nerve of this mere human thinking it could catch it without a fight.

Bonnie, although she did not directly understand the Pokemon's exact thoughts, would take the chance, adjusting her fedora again before winding up for the shot.

Finally, using up all her energy, she swung her arm right out, flinging the Poke Ball right towards the Pidgey's direction.

"Poke Ball, GO!" The sphere spun right out of Bonnie's grasp and flew towards the wild Pokemon.

 **BASH!**

Then, it collided with the Pokemon, slightly knocking its head, and opened up, zapping the bird with a red energy beam before sucking it into the ball. The sphere then landed on the ground.

Bonnie now had to wait. She stared directly into the ball as it shook, signalling the caught Pidgey's defiance in resisting its capture. At the same time, the middle button glowed red as it tipped to the side for a while.

Then, just when Bonnie thought it was all over in her favour, the ball suddenly burst back open, releasing the bird Pokemon in a white bolt of light. The light faded and Pidgey's physical form was restored. Free from its near capture, the bird spread its wings out and flew back to the safety of the trees.

"Oh man!" Bonnie was overcome by disappointment and failure all at once. Her first attempt of her first catch was another defeat. Then, Bonnie could have sworn she heard her PokeDex activating on its own.

" _To capture a Pokemon, it is widely recommended to weaken it down to a certain point of near incapacity._ "

"Yeah, that would have been real nice…" She lowered her head in defeat, and then stared at a certain mouse who could have been more of a help to catching that Pidgey. "If somebody wasn't such a slacker…"

Dedenne was still sleeping soundly against a tree. As much as Bonnie would want to try again to wake him up, however, she had other concerns right about now.

"Krow! Krow! Krow!" Bonnie gritted her teeth at the sound of laughter coming from the Pidgey up above. Was this Pidgey being territorial, or was it just fooling around?

"There has to be another way to catch that darn Pidgey." She put her mind to it and walked around to come up with a brilliant idea to catch the Pokemon without Dedenne's help for now.

Then, when she looked at the backpack she had left down next to the tree where Dedenne was sleeping at, something popped in her head.

"That's it!" She then hurried to her bag and picked out a can of Pokemon food meant for Bonnie and then, struggled to pull out a large sheet of a blanket. A colourful one at that. Filled with cute Pokemon on it, Bonnie was feeling a little hesitant about having it being used to trap that Pidgey.

"I guess this will have to do." Eventually, she gave in and folded it up so it could be picked up. She sure was hell-bent on catching that Pokemon enough to sacrifice her pretty blanket. Regardless, she also collected enough Pokemon food from the can and snuck up to the tree Pidgey was on. She could see that the bird Pokemon was cleaning its wing from its lucky escape. Grinning, she quickly pinched the food into small bits and crumbs and sprinkled it below the tree. Hurrying back behind her tree, she peeked over, waiting for the Pidgey to take the bait.

After a few minutes of stalking, Bonnie's patience had paid off. After finishing its cleaning, Pidgey caught sight of something below on the ground. It then flapped its wings and landed down there and began pecking the ground. The bird had taken the bait. And now, it was time for the trap to be sprung.

Moving closer while the Pidgey was feasting on the minute crumbs, Bonnie snuck up from behind the tree and tip-toed towards the unsuspecting Pokemon, creeping up to it.

"That's it… Easy…" Bonnie made sure that her speed was extra slow, while also ensuring that her steps went unheard.

Then, once in range, she stopped and prepared to open up her blanket and pounce right at it. Whispering to herself, she counted down…

"One…"

"Two…"

"GOTCHA!" Without warning she leapt on top of it, with her blanket being wide open. She threw herself down and trapped the bird in the large sheet. The Pidgey could not fly away from the huge blanket as Bonnie quickly wrapped him up with her hands.

Bonnie struggled as the Pidgey attempted to peck its way out of the blanket, but did not budge. Her hold was like a real Vice Grip.

"Now, I gotta… Ech! Hold on to it… and then tire it out…!"

But then, out of the blue, Bonnie felt herself being lighter than normal. The next thing she knew it, she was floating up in the air, with the blanket being pushed right up with her. Underneath it, a whirlwind of dirt and sand spun right up, elevating the poor girl all the way up in the air.

"WHHOOAAA!"

Eventually, the wind died down and the Trainer landed on her behind. Back on the rocky ground, Bonnie rubbed the pain sustained from the fall while her blanket draped right above her. Attempt number two was yet another failure.

Coughing up the dust she had accidentally swallowed from the wind, she then hastily removed herself from the blanket. Thankfully, the blanket was not at all torn or punctured with holes or scratch marks, but there was dirt and sand stuck to the otherwise comfy sheet.

"Great, now I have to take this to wash." Then, Bonnie heard her PokeDex

" _Caution is advised. If a Pidgey is disturbed, it can ferociously strike back with its wings and its talons._ " hands to her hips, Bonnie sighed with sass, not content with her second failure.

"Now you tell me…" She mocked the PokeDex as she picked up and folded and rolled up the blanket, putting it back into her bag. She was about to go get the Pokemon food she used as bait.

"Huh?" However, the food seemed to have picked up a rather gluttonous guest. There, Bonnie walked over to the can and found the orange ball of fur that was munching up the food like a Munchlax in a picnic. She took the furball away and saw that it was none other than her own Dedenne, wide awake and definitely hungry.

"Dene!" He happily called to its Trainer. But Bonnie was far from happy.

"Errgh! I'm such an idiot. I should've used the food to wake up Dedenne instead of wasting it on that Pidgey." She groaned, having just realized her mistake.

Bonnie took her time to calm down, breathing in and out while letting the stress flow away from her body. After being calmed, she then sighed, wondering if she'll ever catch a Pokemon at this rate.

Then again, she looked at her Dedenne, who burped from its feast, and immediately, the frown on her face turned upside-down.

"Alright. Alright, Bonnie. Relax." Bonnie mentally assured to herself. "If that bird ever shows up to make my day, Dedenne is now wide awake and we'll be ready for it!"

She bent down and picked up Dedenne again, bringing him up to her face.

"Sorry about the rude wake-up call, Dedenne." She sheepishly giggled. "I was just so close to catching a Pidgey."

"Dedenne…" The mouse Pokemon let out a cry of apology, regretting its decision to sleep off. Bonnie just laughed it out.

"Hey, don't blame yourself. Now that you're awake, I would like you to help me out and battle it! What do you say?" She raised Dedenne up to her fedora and the Pokemon scurried up and stood up with his hand up and ready to go.

"Dedenne!" With both friends now fired up and ready, Bonnie picked up her bag and resumed her hunt. Thought she could always go on elsewhere to find another Pidgey, she felt this one could be worth the catch. It was a feisty little Pidgey, no doubt, but if Bonnie could successfully make it her own, then that Pidgey's strength would be her own advantage.

If all else fails, then she'll have to go on out without it. Perhaps more exciting and less hostile Pokemon could turn up somehow…

Bonnie made her move, away from the path of the route and proceeded to enter the thick wild grass grown almost up to her waist.

Thank goodness she was taller now. Going through the tall grass back in the old days was like walking through a miniature forest, where it would be a little scarier should any Pokemon pop out. Now, she was a full-fledged Trainer where the surprise of a Pokemon jumping out to fight her was to be an exciting moment, not to mention an opportunity to add one to her team.

As she rummaged through the grass, she slowly looked around, hoping to find that annoying little Pidgey. She was certain that the direction she was going was the same as where Pidgey would have went. Her eyes scanned the tall grass and the high branches, just looking out for the bird Pokemon, or perhaps any other Pokemon that might prove to be useful.

Minutes have passed, but no sign of the Pidgey or other Pokemon. Just Bonnie and Dedenne having their hands full pushing away the thick blades of grass as Bonnie walked on.

Then, finally, Bonnie stopped to hear something, hushing Dedenne just in case. Listening in closely, she could hear the faint sounds of sharp tapping on the ground. Could it be…?

"Found you, you little rascal…" Bonnie whispered to herself.

"Dene…" added Dedenne. The girl then snuck up even slower, bending down while following the sounds of the tapping. As she honed in on the sounds, they got clearer and clearer. Bonnie's heart was beating faster from the suspense of the catch.

Once she got real close, a head popped up. It was just a silhouette, but Bonnie could barely see the unmistakable pointy tip at the front of its mouth that was a beak.

"And here's our shot." Bonnie got ready to rise from the grass and strike the Pokemon. This time, she would have Dedenne settle things the proper way.

At her signal, Bonnie soon stood up with the Pidgey on her sights. And then, the time was right…

Bonnie struck!

"Dedenne! Use Thundershock!"

"Dede… NNEEEE!" The mouse jumped up from Bonnie's hat and fired its bolt of electricity towards its target. The electric strike bolted within the speed of light and successfully hit its mark.

"RRREEAARRR!"

Just when Bonnie was about to celebrate though, she was suddenly stunned to hear the unfamiliar caw from the Pidgey. At least it was a Pidgey, right…?

Then, after the creature was shocked, Bonnie ducked back down, trying to get a better view of the Pidgey she shot. She closed the distance and finally caught of the Pokemon. The only problem was…

It wasn't a Pidgey… Not even close…

"Uh-oh…"

A small glimmer shone from the sharp eyes of this new Pokemon, glaring right towards Bonnie and Dedenne with a powerful look of anger and intent to kill.

"Dene…?" Dedenne shook its Trainer, shaken from the chilly look.

"Uh… Dedenne…" Bonnie called. "I… think we should…"

"KRAWWW!" From out of the grass, a wild bird Pokemon with an even sharper beak and rougher feathers, cawed with rage, setting its sights on the Pokemon Trainer and Dedenne who were foolish enough to ruin its day.

"RUN!" Panicked by the horrifying call of a lone Spearow, Bonnie and Dedenne made their escape, running for their lives as the Spearow kept on flapping and cawing.

The worst thing was that when there is one Spearow, then not far away, a whole flock would not be too far away.

And that's what happened. Soon, the chase was joined by tens of Spearow, darting themselves up from the grass or burst from the trees; all converging as one flock heading right for Bonnie and Dedenne.

The girl ran for dear life as she rushed through the wild grass. Dedenne held on to her shoulder for fear that being on her hat would send him to become a nice little snack for the angry Pokemon behind them.

"Yikes! This is so not… how I planned… to catch a Pokemon!"

* * *

After a few dreadful minutes, all was calm again. The Spearow had already ascended far into the sky. Down on the ground, a very large tree became the safety bunker for a couple of troublemakers of the forest.

"Are… they gone?" Bonnie, panting hard from all of that running, peaked out of the hole of the tree trunk in which she managed to jump in to avoid detection.

"Dede." Dedenne too came from under his Trainer's hat, peeping out to look around as well.

They both looked all over the area to spot for any remaining dangers. The two of them sighed in utter relief, seeing no sign of the Spearow anywhere.

"Good. They're gone."

 **BASH!**

"WAAAHH!" But her entry into her safe spot was in fact a home invasion. A very grumpy Zigzagoon gave the girl a nasty Headbutt at her, ejecting the girl out of the hole.

Bonnie made a rough landing on the ground, apparently feeling a little more pain that originally felt during her fall from Pidgey's Gust. She then turned around to look at the hole to find the Zigzagoon barking at her before running back into its home.

Sighing once again, Bonnie and Dedenne were feeling really unlucky with their trek. And it was only Route 4 so far.

"This is going to be a really long day…" complained Bonnie. After being gusted at by a Pidgey and being chased around by an angry mob of Spearow, it had been a really disappointing day, minus the exit from Lumiose City of course.

"Dene!" Bonnie looked up with her eyes to catch Dedenne looking down on her from her fedora. He gave her the sweet smile that always cheered Bonnie up.

Smiling with new hope, Bonnie began to understand what Dedenne was trying to say.

"You're right, Dedenne." said Bonnie. "There's no point giving up now."

"Dedenne!" The Pokemon then came down as Bonnie nuzzled at him again.

 **BZZZZTTTT!**

"YYIIIKKKEESSS!" The shock from Dedenne's antenna whiskers gave Bonnie yet another electrifying sensation as she then was covered in soot again.

"Erghh… I really gotta watch out for your whiskers…"

"Denenene…" The mouse snickered at his own antics. Shaking again, Bonnie put Dedenne back on her fedora, and the two were finally off to resume their journey. Who needed a Pidgey anyway? There was a whole world full of more Pokemon to catch and train. Why should a mere Pidgey get in her way?

"Come on. Let's get out of this place." Bonnie started off her trek with a confident stride, raising her feet high and mighty.

But then…

"Uhhh… **if** we can find the path again…"

* * *

In the midst of the chaos, the poor Trainer had gotten herself lost within the forest.

She was now deep within a thick forest with very little direction on how to leave. Bonnie was easily getting frustrated after spending what felt like an hour wandering around the forest.

If only the Town Map she had would allow her to zoom in on her location, but unfortunately, there was no such feature. All it could read was that she was on Route 4.

"Great." groaned Bonnie. "First I get bullied by a Pidgey, then we both get chased by a flock of carnivorous Spearow. And then, I had my butt kicked by a Zigzagoon. What's next, being bitten in the feet by scurrying Rattata? Or being robbed by a Pancham or two? Why can't I just meet up with something as cute as a Bidoof? Or a Shinx like my brother did?"

Complaint after complaint, the girl and her Pokemon continued to navigate through the forest with little luck. Dedenne too had grown tired of the lack of progress. Picking up from his feet, he jumped off Bonnie's hat and proceeded to run up a tree.

"Dedenne?!" Bonnie cried. "Where are you-?" Then, she remembered yet another forgotten fact. "Ohhh! I can't believe I forgot! You can climb up the trees and find a way out of here!"

"Dene!" The Pokemon confirmed from a branch, earning cheers from the lost girl.

"Woohoo! We're finally getting out of… Wait a minute." Despite an early jump for joy, Bonnie then turned to stare inquisitively at Dedenne. "Why didn't you just do that earlier?"

"De!" The Pokemon, not willing to make excuses, hurried up to the top of the tree, leaving behind a baffled Bonnie.

"That Dedenne. He can be such a Slaking sometimes." The Trainer too refused to complain any longer and stood against the tree while waiting for Dedenne to locate a way out of the forest.

Dedenne climbed up the tree, leaping from branch to branch while reaching for the top. As he made it to the top of the tree, he could get a clear view of the whole forest. He looked all around to find the same dirt path they were at before they got lost.

Just then, when he looked to the right, Dedenne found something else. Up in the air, he could see four black dots in the sky, flying around like a swarm of Beedrill, constantly zooming in all directions in dizzying speeds.

Then, the dots then became bigger and they took form as winged creatures, with a lone flyer being chased by three others behind it. Within a much clearer line of sight, Dedenne managed to identify the Pokemon flying above.

Being on the ground, however, Bonnie could only see what happened through the opening of the trees above her. In a blink of an eye, she saw a swift silhouette swiping past her sight, followed by the three other fast movers chasing it down.

"What was that?!" She wished she could find out what exactly was going on, but Dedenne was able to see the whole spectacle unfold.

From Dedenne's point of view, a sort of dogfight was happening between three small sparrow-like Fletchling and a lone Pidgey. The smaller birds made spinning barrel rolls and sped towards the Pidgey like flying drills. The Pidgey boosted itself up just in time to dodge the Drill Pecks as the darting Fletchling zoomed right under it.

The trio of birds stopped spinning, turned around to face Pidgey, and floated in the air to launch another attack at it.

Pidgey then bobbed its head forward and instead of a common attack, puckered its beak and spat out tiny pellets at the three birds, shooting them out like a machine gun with rapid speed.

The Fletchling successfully manoeuvred over and through all of the seeds, performing flying somersaults to avoid being pelleted.

The Pidgey fired its last seed before retreating back to refill some ammo, aiming to swoop down below and disappear into the trees. But it wouldn't get the chance to even find another berry. The Fletchling pursued the Pidgey down into the forest and burst through the leaves.

"Whoa!" Soon, Bonnie was finally able to witness the debacle happening before her very eyes. Unfortunately, it was both a shocking and gloomy moment as Pidgey crashed to the ground, visibly in pain.

The bird laid down on the ground, shaking in agony but still managed to get back up to its feet. It still stumbled forward, earning much from Bonnie who was watching the poor Pokemon.

"Oh no…" Hands covering her mouth, Bonnie could not even utter a word.

Suddenly, the tree shook wildly again, with three shadowy figures crashing down on the party. Bonnie then saw the figures revealing themselves as three Fletchling.

The looks on their faces gave the girl a little bit of the chills. Furrowed eyes and somewhat a smirk on each of their beaks, they stared down on the battered Pidgey, waiting to do harm.

Then, they struck! Pidgey braced itself for impact, shielding its face with its wings. However, the Fletchling flying towards it just zoomed past it without even doing as much as a scratch.

When Pidgey opened its eyes, it could feel that there was no pain at all. Unfortunately, the breeze of wind it just felt meant a more terrible outcome. It heard the tweeting of those menacing Fletchling coming from behind it and when it turned its head around, its fears were confirmed.

It was too late to do anything as Pidgey hopped helplessly to a hole on a tree, bent on fighting those trespassing rats for birds to the end. Just as it was reaching the base of the tree, the three birds raced from out of the hole and flew off, leaving a baffled Pidgey behind.

They stopped halfway and turned around, revealing the motives behind their little raid on the Pokemon. In their beaks, each carried a stick with purple or red berries hanging from the branches. They then hummed with the berries in their mouths, seemingly taunting the Pidgey.

Pidgey was visibly enraged by the outcome and sought to attack again. Cawing madly, it then tried to fly towards them.

From the angry expressions displayed by the bigger bird, Bonnie could actually tell what was going on.

"Those Fletchling…" she quietly mused before raising her voice in disbelief. "They're thieves! Stealing berries from that Pidgey's home! That's so low!"

Bonnie's yells went unheard as the Pidgey took flight and flashed in a bright white light; a Quick Attack to be precise. However, even a lightning-fast rush could not stop the Fletchling from separating from their formation and just missed the Pidgey when it was right at them.

The speeding bird just flew right passed them. Its eyes then widened, stunned by how it was unable to even use Quick Attack to deal some damage to the conniving Fletchling. Its troubles, however, were about to get worse.

It looked out at front and saw that it was heading right for a tree. Pidgey tried to stop, desperately trying to drag its body back to slow itself down before it could pummel into the wood.

Sadly, the bird was just too fast. Try as it might, there was just no stopping it from ending up being collided into the hard bark, face first.

"Oohhh…" Bonnie squirmed as hard as she could, almost feeling the powerful pain that Pidgey sustained from the crash. Pity overcame her as she placed a hand over her chest, worried over the Pidgey.

The bird landed painfully on the ground. After a while, Bonnie watched and wondered if the Pidgey would rise up from its fall. Alas, there was no response. Pidgey had fainted.

Bonnie then heard the screeching calls of the annoying gangsters from above her. Looking up, she could see the birds just cackling away at the Pidgey's misfortune. She really felt like teaching those bullies a lesson, fists balled and teeth gritted.

Even if she did do something, the Fletchling had decided that it was time to bolt. With their stolen loot, the punks made one last set of insulting chirps at their downed foe before fluttering off and above the trees.

At once, the thieves were gone. Nowhere to be found and taking Pidgey's rightful food with them.

"Oh man…" Bonnie could only stare at the sky, suddenly feeling sorry for the Pidgey who was slumped to the ground, down for the count. She then walked towards the downed Pokemon and picked it up, cradling it. She looked down at the weakened state of the Pidgey with its eyes closed and almost little energy to even wake up. "Oh no, Pidgey."

Then, its eyes did open after a small struggle. It looked up to find the face of the Pokemon Trainer who had been disturbing its peace. It then spurted up from Bonnie's hold, flying above her before delivering a painful Peck to Bonnie's head.

"OOWWW!" Bonnie screamed in pain as the Pidgey darted away from her and sped straight into the hole it called home, not willing to come out afterwards.

Bonnie, on the other hand, rubbed her head from the strike she had taken.

"Man… that Pidgey sure has an attitude." When she got up, she then heard the soft tapping sounds of her Pokemon, Dedenne's footsteps heading for her. The little mouse ran up to Bonnie and decided to tell her the things he saw up in the air.

All the while, Dedenne was explaining to Bonnie through sign language, imitating the whole dogfight he had witnessed.

Bonnie watched closely as she saw Dedenne go through with his acting. As Dedenne carried on with his 'conversation', he made imitations of the Pokemon he saw and even made movements mimicking the action scenes.

First, he bent his body down, which was not much considering his bloated stomach. Once it started moving his arms around like wings, however, Bonnie could easily make out a bird with that form.

Then, when Dedenne used that pose and flew around making angry noises, his Trainer instantly knew that the Pokemon was referring to the hectic fight that was happening right in front of her.

Next, Dedenne then reached for a berry somewhere nearby and then ate the whole thing in his mouth. He then looked towards a safe spot elsewhere and spat the seed out. All while still doing the bird pose. After that, he was done, looking at Bonnie as normal.

Bonnie put the pieces of the puzzle together, adding the Pidgey's unfortunate battle with the spitting of the seeds. Immediately as she linked the two together, that was when she knew what was going on.

"A Pidgey spitting seeds, huh?"

"Dene." The Pokemon nodded, cheering for his Trainer for getting the correct answer. Bonnie grinned at the confirmation of Dedenne's answer, added with the thought of a certain Pidgey in her mind.

"That could only mean one thing. That's the same Pidgey that attacked me earlier." Bonnie's head was now filled with the memories of her uneasy encounter with the Pokemon earlier. Admittedly, the Trainer was now feeling urge of catching the Pokemon again, now that she had the rascal in her sights.

However, after everything that had happened in front of her very eyes, she knew that there was something a little more to this Pidgey's attitude than it seemed. She soon developed a new outlook on the situation, and a changed heart.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we should help that Pidgey." Dedenne looked up at his Trainer, confused by her new resolve.

"Ne?"

"Those Fletchling just took those berries from it like a bunch of thieves. The least we can do is help." It would sound like interfering with nature, but after what she did to ruin Pidgey's day, Bonnie felt like she could make it up for it. As a Trainer, she believed that it was her right to help out a Pokemon in distress, even if it was due to natural reasons.

She approached the tree where Pidgey was still in, eager to talk to the poor Pokemon. Unfortunately, what she was getting into would become a repeat of her not-so peaceful encounter of the Pidgey earlier.

"Hey. Pidgey?!"

Once again, when coming up to Pidgey, Bonnie was met with a shower of seeds being shot at her. Shielding herself and Dedenne, Bonnie tried to walk blindly as they were being pelleted.

"Hey! What was that for?!" She called out to Pidgey, but the firing continued, becoming a source of irritation for the girl. "Sheesh. It's no wonder you don't have neighbours!"

"Dene!" Dedenne agreed.

"Look! We just want to talk! OW!" Unfortunately, when bonnie tried to look and meet the Pidgey face-to-face, she was hit to the eye! The seed knocked her left eye, leaving an irritating sting that repelled Bonnie back a few feet from the tree.

"Drrgh…" She rubbed her eye, groaning at the Pidget showing her obvious annoyance towards the bird Pokemon's antics.

"Dene, Dedenne!" Dedenne was now unsure if Bonnie could ever reach out to Pidgey, trying to convince her that she should just leave Pidgey alone and focus on finding their way out of the forest. If it didn't want their help, then there was no point continuing to fight for it.

Bonnie, however, refused to give in. Dedicated to the end, she was going to gain this Pidgey's trust no matter what. This was her way of becoming a great Trainer, even to wild Pokemon.

"No, Dedenne. I'm not going to give up. If it means being hit by seeds, I'm going to make sure I help this poor Pokemon!" She stomped her foot to fire her up and then walked on. The seeds continued to fly, hitting her up like cannon fodder.

After being shot at repeatedly, Bonnie was able to make it close to the hole. Just when she reached for the opening, the Pidgey then burst out from its home and gave Bonnie one nasty headbutt to her stomach, sending her back to square one.

"Dene!" Dedenne fell from his Trainer, running back to her and shaking her to see if she was alright. Bonnie stood up, feeling the pain settle after Pidgey attacked. But she then grabbed her hat, which had also fallen from the blow, and slapped it on her head.

She was going to give it her all, not wanting to even give up for a second. She continued her pursuit, only to be met with more seeds, and subsequently, more headbutts. Despite the amount of force pushed against her, Bonnie would still go on. This Pidgey will get its food back, no matter what happened.

* * *

Dusk came as the sun set down to allow night to take over. It had been an hour since Bonnie started pushing through against Pidgey's unrelenting strikes.

Now, all seemed quiet. Pidgey was no longer attacking, even as Bonnie settled down in front of the hole within the firing range. Bonnie was now on the ground, lying from all the bashes and shots she had received from this rather defensive Pokemon.

"Phew…" Bonnie, now exhausted after an hour of resisting Pidgey's attacks, sighed out her exhaustion. Dedenne was standing just next to her. He was forced to watch as his Trainer kept moving on and getting hit until she had no more energy to go on.

However, Bonnie only stopped just moments after, by some luck, Pidgey had stopped as well. It would seem that by a split second or moment, Bonnie had practically won the fight, but now she was too tired to move for now, resulting to herself lying down on the ground.

"Sheesh." moaned Bonnie. "What a blast…" She tiredly uttered, but at the same time, sounding like she enjoyed her little struggle, after knowing that she noticed the Pokemon's stop to its shooting.

Minutes after she had stumbled to the ground, she got up, dusting the dirt and sand off her clothes, and walked on to her opponent's home.

Cautiously, she kept on walking, expecting at least to see more seeds coming in at her. But where she walked to the point the bullets and Pidgey itself would be thrust upon her, there was no such action. Only more silence.

After a few steps, Bonnie was convinced that Pidgey was now also out of breath. Taking faster steps with a much calmer stride, the girl then reached for the hole, climbing up to see if the Pokemon had conceded. The hollow room was big enough for her to allow her whole body to get into without difficulty.

When she looked into the hole, there she saw. Pidgey was now being seated in a nest made up of branches, leaves and sticks. It was breathing heavily, supposedly finally exhausted from its attacks at Bonnie.

Boonie now had more of a reason to climb up and approach the Pidgey. The Pokemon noticed her intrusion and stared at her with a defensive look.

"Krrr…" Pidgey looked at Bonnie, still stern about seeing her. However, Bonnie went over to it, with her face completely the opposite.

"I see you're out of ammunition." She sat down in front of the Pokemon, holding no grudge against it. All the same, Pidgey still refused to speak to her, looking away from her.

"Come on, Pidgey. Can't you just hear me out for a teeny weeny minute?" insisted Bonnie, clasping her hands together while pleading to Pidgey to see reason with her attempt to talk to it.

No matter how much Bonnie tried, Pidgey was not going to give in. Hours ago, this nuisance of a human was just being the most annoying brat it had met, trying to catch it with the most ridiculous way possible. Just how would she know what a Pokemon feels?

"I… I'm sorry." Then, ironically, it felt a heartfelt apology coming from her? In disbelief, it looked at Bonnie. "I mean it! I'm really… REALLY sorry."

Bonnie poured out her heart's content and talked to Pidgey. Showing the truth behind her words and her admiration for Pidgey's strength, she continued to let Pidgey know that she was not willing to hold anymore grudges.

"Do you know why I was so keen on catching you? Because you seem to be a pretty strong fella!" The first words seemed to have reached Pidgey, prompting it to actually listen.

Bonnie's voice was then changed to be added with a little bit of guilt mixed in.

"Believe me. You really made me pull my Gogoat when you started shooting me with seeds back there." "But then when I tried to trap you with the blanket, I knew that you had a lot of potential. That's really why I wanted to catch you…"

"And then I saw you taking on those Fletchling there, now I began to understand that you were just defending your home and your food."

Now, Pidgey was hearing things. She was really saying that she was feeling sorry for it. But at the same time, there was some negativity in there to make it suggest that Bonnie was showing more pity than real sorrow.

Bonnie then took off her hat and gave it the most confident face.

"Which is why I wanna help you!" Pidgey was now more surprised than it was before.

"Hear me out when I say it, but you, Pidgey, are a good Pokemon." She spoke with sincerity, with Pidgey listening on with interest. "You just need some friends to scratch your back. Just let me and Dedenne help you take on those Fletchling and get your food back. Plus, with those Fletchling gone, you'll be able to roam this forest all you want."

Pidgey thought for a moment if Bonnie was speaking the truth. It felt like Bonnie was being actually willing to help it, but was not certain if she would keep her word about letting it roam the forest. It was getting a little jumpy with her decision, for it would present an opportunity for Bonnie to catch it again, breaking all good will.

"Last but not least, consider this my little way of making it up to you for messing with 'ya." But Bonnie's last part of her request was another eye-opener. Now, she was saying that she wanted to fix up all bad blood between them.

This was a very curious turn of events as Pidgey wanted to think about this more. Finally, after some thought, it looked at Bonnie.

"So what do you say? Deal?" Maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask for a bit of help. Hopefully, it would stay that way. If this human would do anything stupid, it would be really, really pissed. It would show no mercy once Bonnie would pull off a trick.

With the threat of the three Fletchling and the possibility of Bonnie's deception etched in its mind, Pidgey decided to let this human assist. Then, if its suspicions were keen, then it would not hesitate to do justice.

"Great! Then, first thing in the morning, we shall teach those bullies not to mess with you!" Bonnie cheered.

"Dene!" added the mouse Pokemon with her.

"Pidgey." The bird Pokemon simply nodded. Bonnie noticed the neutral gesture it was giving. She was really expecting a much more positive attitude from the Pidgey. However, as long as it was not firing any seeds or anything, she was definitely fine with it.

"Well, it's getting late. I'll leave you to your sleep." Finally, after a much needed talk, Bonnie decided it was time to get some rest. Tomorrow was going to be another wild day.

She jumped off the hole and back on the ground. Unknown to her, however, Dedenne jumped off her hat and stayed in the hole. He walked over to Pidgey, who was curious with Dedenne's presence.

Dedenne then reached out for Pidgey and chirped up a few words, letting it know that Bonnie was the nicest girl he had ever met, and when she makes a declaration to help a Pokemon in need, she would not give up on her word.

Pidgey looked at Dedenne, wondering again if this little Pokemon, who it noticed was sticking to the girl like glue, was right.

Without much else to say, Dedenne jumped out of the hole to join his beloved Trainer.

Pidgey then returned to its nest and prepared for the night. This was one strange day for it, but it knew that tomorrow would be when it would all play out.

* * *

Finally, the darkness of night loomed in the forest.

A tired Bonnie was now at her bag, looking for something to prepare for her bedtime. She then took out a small circular electronic device with a circular panel on it and a red button on the side.

Pressing on that button, she then tossed it to an empty patch of grass and the small device soon blew into a large tent, fully ready all without much of hard work. Bonnie had her hands to her hips after witnessing the device's successful outcome.

"Ah… Always good to have an inventor as your brother." she said to herself. "That is, if you know which one of his inventions **does** work…"

Bonnie was already changed to her sleepwear; a simple pink T-shirt and pink pajama pants, while her hair was all, with the ponytail gone and now loose down freely.

Being alone while travelling definitely made it easier for her to change clothes, without having to worry about any unwanted attention. Of course, none of her friends had ever shamed her or anything whens he seven, but she was now feeling a little more comfortable knowing that she did not have to worry about any prying eyes, accident or otherwise…

She readied herself for bed, taking out her sleeping bag and placing it in her tent. Stretching her arms out, she then entered the tent, tucked herself in her sleeping bag and nested Dedenne down next to her in his own sleeping bag.

"Night, Pidgey!" She then called out to the bird Pokemon in its hole, but she knew that it was probably sleeping. Even if it wasn't, it probably wouldn't care less anyway.

She nestled into her comfortable sleeping bag like a Caterpie in a Metapod. She moved her head to the side for a comfier position.

"Wow, Dedenne. Our first night out in the woods… alone." It's already been one hard day and it was only the first of her journey so far. Bonnie imagined just how much more complicated the rest of the journey would be.

"Dedenne Ne?" Dedenne asked, wondering if Bonnie was scared. The girl understood its Pokemon's question when it would have guessed from her spooked expression.

"Oh… I'm not scared." She brightly smiled…

 **WWWRRAWWW!**

"EEK!" …but a sudden wail, possibly from another wild Pokemon, made her skin crawl. Dedenne also jumped at the howling noise.

"Okay, maybe a little creeped out. But we gotta get used to it somehow." She then got back to her sleeping position, with many wonders swimming around her head. Day one was just the start of her journey, with so much more the world would offer in the future.

"Dene…" Dedenne agreed, but its eyes were already shut and the Pokemon dozed off the second it finished voicing out its agreement.

"Hmmm…" Bonnie giggled, though she too was feeling drowsy herself. Closing her eyes, she prepared for her own sleep. "Maybe surviving in these woods in my journey can help me understand on how to catch Pokemon better. I'd get to feel one with nature."

 **FLETCHLING FLETCH FLECT-!**

Unfortunately, the Pokemon already one with nature had some other plans. A wild chorus of a group of Fletchling echoed through the night, causing a real ruckus that stirred Bonnie from her sleep.

Presumably, these must have been the same Fletchling that made a fool out of Pidgey earlier that day. Annoyed, Bonnie covered her eyes, face tensed at the uncoordinated calls. Could Fletchling have the knowledge to use Screech or something? Bonnie could not care less. These birds were certainly going to have it tomorrow.

"Nature blows…" She sighed before slamming the hood of the sleeping bag down on her ear in an attempt to block out the irritating Fletchling calls.

After ten uncourteous minutes, all was silent again. Bonnie found comfort in the peaceful soundless night, but she knew those Fletchling could come back to keep her up again.

"Just you wait, you little troublemakers…" She vowed. "Both Pidgey and I will settle the score, once and for all."

At the mention of Pidgey, though, Bonnie suddenly had to wonder how Pidgey was doing after its wacky fight with the Fletchling and herself.

"I wonder how Pidgey's doing." Arousing from her sleep and out of her sleeping bag, Bonnie exited the tent, leaving behind her Dedenne to sleep off. She looked back for a little while, just wondering how Dedenne was sleeping through the whole ruckus.

The girl made her way to the tree, climbing up the hole and peering in to find Pidgey, still in its nest, sleeping.

Bonnie smiled, watching the Pokemon getting some deserved rest from the troubles of the day.

"Hmmm…" A thought came to her head. She knew from her talk with Pidgey that the Pokemon was having some doubts just from looking at its neutral expression. She really wanted to help, but with a Pidgey who was not willing to cooperate even the slightest bit, tomorrow's rematch with the Fletchling would not be one to feel accomplish from, and she wanted both her and Pidgey to feel good about the battle.

Thus, she had an idea.

Pidgey's eyes were closed the whole time, but the pain and humiliation it had taken during the day was making its sleep an uncomfortable one.

Suddenly, it heard a small thud, enough for it to wake up and look.

"Krow?" Pidgey found what was in front of it. On the floor, there were full-sized Pokemon food pellets laid there. Curious, Pidgey looked out the hole of its tree and saw a human hand hanging on it. When it slipped away, Pidgey rose from its feet and skipped towards the hole to follow it.

It then peeked out of the hole and saw the human girl it had met earlier entering her little dwelling.

It found itself in a really strange position. It felt a rather tingly sensation in its heart when it looked at the food, but at the same time, its body was also feeling really warm. It felt like Pidgey was actually… touched.

Why would this human girl, who probably became the most annoying human it had ever seen, suddenly come forward to help it with its problems? It could not understand the change of heart that she had expressed, for why would a human be willing to help a wild Pokemon when, a while ago, she tried to capture it?

With the warm feeling still fresh in its blood, Pidgey hopped to the end of the room and back to its nest, leaving the food still lying there, but the warm feeling made it decide to eat it for breakfast the next morning.

As it slept back, Pidgey was now having second thoughts about this new alliance with the human. At first, it accepted mainly just because it wanted those blasted Fletchling out of its home and nothing more.

Now, there was something more than that…

* * *

It was now the first morning Bonnie had in the wild on her journey. It would have been the perfect time to rise and feel the fresh air. Well, that was only true for Dedenne.

Waking up on his own, Dedenne walked out of the tent and did the breathing himself. He took in the fresh air and huffed out in a refreshing exhale.

However, he did not seem to find its Trainer anywhere. That was when he knew that Bonnie was not awake. Three years under her care, he knew most of Bonnie's habits, and had developed many ways to go around these habits. Its favourite trick; that was about to happen right now for occasions like this.

It ran back to the tent and found Bonnie, still knocked out. She was now sleeping facing upwards, snoring from her comfortable sleep. Bonnie may have been a well behaved little girl with a touch of beauty in her taste, but when it came to sleeping, she can be one heck of a sleeper.

Dedenne knew it was time to work out his little scheme. He approached the still sleeping Trainer and, with the most conniving look on his face, sparked up his cheeks and…

 **BBRRZZZTT!**

"YOOOOWWWWWW!" And a nice Thundershock lit the entire tent in a brilliant flash of yellow light.

Inside, Bonnie was being shocked with the rudest awakening anyone had ever experienced. Having an Electric-type Pokemon as your alarm clock may have been the worst idea any Trainer could have, and Bonnie learnt it the hard way.

"Aaaahhhh…" Bonnie woke up in a real cranky way. "Dedenne… Why do you continue to make a terrible wake-up call…?"

"Dene!" Dedenne greeted Bonnie good morning, cheerful in its call as if nothing had happened.

"Bonnie shook off the ash from the electric shock and got up.

She applied the same perfume that she would always use. She was on a Pokemon journey, so that meant days without a proper bath. Thus, Bonnie took with her the perfume to at least add some fragrance to block out any bad odour that she might give off, planning on walking the journey through until she could find a Pokemon Centre to rest and have a nice shower in between her adventures, though a lake or river could prove to be an alternative.

Nevertheless, Bonnie got to change back to her normal clothes and put on her favourite hat. She then looked for Dedenne and let him climb on top of her shoulder again.

To start the day, Bonnie would go to the hole and call upon the Pidgey to ready itself for its fight against the Fletchling.

"Pidgey."

"Huh?" Suddenly, the two friends a low call from a bird Pokemon coming from behind them. They turned around and saw the caller of the voice.

"Pidgey?" There stood the Pidgey, already wide awake and looking ready for some action. It also did something that Bonnie could have sworn was something out of its character.

It was actually smiling at them. Could this be a sign of a change of heart? Bonnie bent down to be sure of Pidgey's resolve, but without telling anyone, she also wanted to see if Pidgey was willing to follow her as an ally.

"So, are you ready to take the fight to the enemy?" She asked with a fist shown to Pidgey. Then, for the first time, Pidgey gave a nod and with a positive, battle-ready attitude, to Bonnie's delight.

"Then let's do this!"

"De Dedenne!"

The alliance strengthened, the three warriors were well on their way to challenge the Fletchling. Pidgey led the way for it knew where those thieves would live in, after having much experience with them.

Eventually, the trio were now at the place, where the Fletchling were up in the tree, probably ready to plan out another raid on Pidgey. They stood under the residence, prepared to make one more fight and settle the competition once and for all.

"PIDGEY!" The bird Pokemon called out. At once, the three Fletchling soared in the air and made a graceful landing, like a bunch of show-offs. Arrogant and proud, they pointed their wings up in poses.

"You lot sure are confident…" Bonnie whispered. "But it doesn't matter! 'Cos we're going to leave this Pidgey alone!"

Bonnie's declaration instantly earned some irritating laughter from the group; the Fletchling rolling on the floor laughing. The Trainer's cheeks bloated, annoyed by their unamusing chortles. Apparently, Pidgey was growing tired of their laughter as well as it hopped up for battle.

Bonnie then ignored the still laughing trio and headed over to Pidgey to plan out her strategy.

Although she was confident that she would teach these Fletchling a lesson, Bonnie was not so sure if her plan would work. She would be able to pull off the strategy flawlessly, even as a beginner. But in order to do so, Pidgey must be a hundred percent on this. However, it was how she wanted Pidgey to carry out the battle that made her have her doubts.

Nevertheless, she had to try. Bending down to Pidgey's level and whispering to the Pokemon, she told it of her plan.

"Listen, Pidgey. If you want to battle them, then you'll have to hear me out."

Pidgey agreed, poking out its ear to listen to Bonnie.

"Alright. Here's the thing. I know you're a great battler and all. But if you're going to outsmart and outgun those thieves, then you'll need my guidance to help you out." Pidgey then widened its eyes, knowing what Bonnie was possibly inclining. "That means, for just this once, I want you to follow my every command."

It knew it. Bonnie was going to direct it to battle, as if Pidgey was her own Pokemon. It was all too good to be true. It turned around, eyes closed, refusing to listen to Bonnie even further.

"Oh no… Not again." Bonnie had her head down, shocked by Pidgey's returning attitude problem. She was not about to give up though. "Pidgey. I know you don't like the idea of being my Pokemon, but for your sake, I want to help you overcome the Fletchling and have your home to yourself."

Pidgey thought about Bonnie's words again. The girl wanted to battle those Fletchling by making him follow her orders, which made it assume that she would be up to her tricks again.

"We really care about you, Pidgey. That's why we want to help. A Pokemon should never be bullied like this."

But then, it remembered back when Bonnie gave it those Pokemon food that night. Touched as it was, the warm feeling coming back to it now gave Pidgey some new optimism. If Bonnie really cared for it, then she'll have to prove it. Maybe for once, it will allow her to command it.

"Pidge!" Pidgey turned back to Bonnie and nodded firmly, bringing back Bonnie's cheers.

"Alright! Then follow my lead." Pidgey stepped forward, awaiting Bonnie's command, ready or not. It was time to get used to listening to a human, for its home and its food; not to mention a good night's sleep for a change.

"Time for Fletchling to move out of this place!" Bonnie declared. The Fletchling had stopped chuckling like mad men and lined up in a straight line, staring down at Pidgey.

Bonnie was getting more excited by the moment. This was to be her first real battle against a wild Pokemon, let alone three at the same time. What it made strange was that the Pokemon she was using was not even hers. Not even anyone else's. Pidgey was a pure wild Pokemon, and she'll be sure to make it stay that way for its sake.

Regardless, Pidgey was still going to allow Bonnie to lead it to battle. It stood forth and the Fletchling did the same. Bonnie got ready to command from behind.

At once, the battle had begun.

"Okay, Pidgey. I know a Pokemon Trainer who used to have all sorts of Flying-types, and I've been learning from him ever since. So, listen to me, and we'll get through this."

Pidgey acknowledged Bonnie. After hearing Bonnie used to follow someone who trained Flying-types like itself, it really knew it had to listen to her more.

"Okay! Let's start this battle with a Tackle!" Bonnie gave her first order, remembering the moves she had scanned from her PokeDex, though the data she was given were only predicted moves from what average Pidgey would normally use at their state. Since Pidgey was not her Pokemon, it would have to do.

Luckily, Pidgey complied and started the battle with a Tackle, charging at the Fletchling. However, the three smaller birds dodged the attack by flying up in the air, letting Pidgey miss the attack.

It was their turn to attack. They all adjusted themselves to dive down at Pidgey and made their move; their beaks brightening up.

"That's a real Pecking order!" Bonnie yelled. "Dodge it! Fly out of there!"

The three birds struck down at Pidgey's location, but listening to Bonnie, the target flew away just in the nick of time as the three birds speared their beaks into the ground.

"That was close." Bonnie swept off a tear from her forehead after getting herself tense from the suspense. "Okay, Pidgey. Retaliation! Use Sand-Attack!"

Pidgey then flew back towards the Fletchling before swiping the sand down below it. The sand rushed towards the Fletchling and hit them. Their eyes were blinded when grains of dirt and sand got into them, stinging them in the process.

"Right! When they're blinded, they're completely unable to hit Pidgey properly." Bonnie said to herself. Confidence built up, Bonnie got ready for another attack. "Quick! Use Peck!"

Pidgey flew back and powered up its beak before charging at them with its attack. It hit the three of them simultaneously by drilling its attack right through them. The Fletchling were thrown off from the hard attack, landing down hard on the ground.

"Nice hit, Pidgey!" Pidgey heard Bonnie giving it a nice compliment, touching it just a little.

The Fletchling returned to battle positions. The trio then flew up again and formed a circle. Altogether, they raised their wings up and fluttered them back and forth while charging their bodies up, creating a triple Quick Attack three times the power of an ordinary attack. The combination of attacks pushed Pidgey all the way, throwing it down to the ground.

"Oh no!" Bonnie screamed. Pummeled to the ground, Pidgey struggled to stand back up. It did get up, and its focus on the battle was somehow strengthened. Could it have something to do with Bonnie's guidance and concern?

Upon hearing the snickering and laughing of the Fletchling, Pidgey's heart began to blaze even hotter than before.

"Great! You're on your feet again! Let's go for another Tackle!" Pidgey listened in and fired itself up with a Tackle. The bird then tried to take on one of the Fletchling, but the tiny Robin Pokemon dodged the attack.

The miss left Pidgey vulnerable enough for another Fletchling to deliver a Tackle of its own, hitting Pidgey again.

"Drats." uttered Bonnie. "They let Pidgey pick one off and let another get him when he was exposed." She had to admit; those Fletchling had some real teamwork going on here. But this made them a triple threat that proved to be more difficult than expected.

Bonnie reverted her attention to Pidgey, who was being Pecked off by the Fletchling. Shaking her head after being distracted by her unintentional praise of the opponents, she got back to the battle.

"Pidgey! Fly out of there!"

However, there was no escape. Pidgey was getting pecked and bashed at multiple times, and all attacks happened each second, pinning Pidgey up and making it unable to move anywhere.

"Oh no… If I don't find a way to break the cycle, Pidgey is a sitting duck… or bird… Drgh! What am I thinking?! I have to get it out of there!"

Bonnie now had to think of a way to free Pidgey from its suppressed state. She had to think first though. For every second she used up, Pidgey was getting weaker and weaker. Seeing the poor Pokemon in that state was making Bonnie even more distressed.

It was just like her battle with Clemont the day before. The feeling of seeing a Pokemon getting hurt because of her inability to command it was sinking into her really badly, with the girl now getting depressed by repeating the incident.

"Dene!" Then, Bonnie snapped out of her depressed state and heard Dedenne's cry to her. She turned to him and saw a serious face glaring at her.

"Dene! De Dedenne!" Her Pokemon kept on squeaking out on her, slapping her with some sense into her head. He reminded Bonnie of the words that her idol always said to her and her friends.

With Dedenne being able to communicate with his long-time partner and caretaker, the Trainer picked up what her Pokemon was saying to her.

Bonnie remembered the words and made her own spirits high again when she thought the words out for herself.

"Alright! Never give up!" Bonnie shouted at the top of her voice, regaining her lost confidence. Now, it was time to rescue Pidgey from its battered position.

She watched the Pokemon getting hit more and more, while also monitoring the Fletchling and studying their moves. Then, after a close analysis…

"That's it!" Bonnie had an idea. "Pidgey! On my signal, make a dive for it! Just hold on a little longer!"

Pidgey, despite being hit on and on, could hear Bonnie from afar, baffled at what Bonnie was telling it to do.

"Just trust me! It will work!" Bonnie's voice reached out with full confidence. Pidgey felt it as it was being bashed about, prompting it to trust her again, but was still unsure if the plan would work.

Even so, it persevered, letting the Fletchling continuingly hit it and withstanding the pain more. It did its best to hold on, waiting for Bonnie to give out the command.

Bonnie bided her time, watching out for an opening in the Fletchling's attack pattern. Her plan was to wait for the right time for Pidgey to make a swift move and finally escape the barrage of attacks.

Pidgey continued to resist, taking more hits and waiting for Bonnie to shout out her word. All was at stake here. If it lost now, then it would also lose its reputation, its home and most of all, its trust in Bonnie.

Then, after more hits, Bonnie concentrated even harder, focusing more on her timing. And then, she sounded off.

"There! Dive!" Pidgey's eyes opened after being closed from its pain. It heard Bonnie calling out to it and within an instant, it pushed itself all the way and swooped down as soon as the last Fletchling finished up attacking. Pidgey flew off with a burst of remarkable speed away from the danger catching the Fletchling off guard.

"You did it!" Bonnie leapt up in joy, followed by Dedenne.

"Dene!"

With the battle now back in full form, Pidgey flew back and landed in front of Bonnie. It shook in pain since it was repeatedly attacked by the Fletchlings' beaks, while Bonnie's poorly timed depression was also to blame. Then, all of those problems were soon forgotten when Bonnie pulled off a well-timed command and all it did was follow.

After such a long day of dissing the Trainer, it now found new respect in her, actually commending Bonnie for her skills. However, Pidgey knew that there something more than respect for Bonnie. All the time it fought the Fletchling, Bonnie actually displayed a good amount of care for it. No one had ever shown that much devotion for it and now, there was someone who did just that, and it came in the form of a human girl, who was originally bent on catching it.

Maybe there was a good reason in her desire to catch it after all?

"Okay! Let's finish this up!" Bonnie made ready for another move. First, she waited for the Fletchling to have their shot at Pidgey. They flew in a straight line, with one behind the other, and swooped down towards Pidgey.

The Little Bird Pokemon became alarmed by their pencil-like formation as they threatened to spear it. However, Bonnie did not say a word. She was simply keeping track of her time as the Fletchling came closer.

Then, when in range, Bonnie yelled out another command.

"Now! Use Sand Attack!"

Pidgey swiped its feet and kicked up a great heap of sand at the Fletchling. The cloud hit the lead Fletchling at front, blinding it and stinging its eyes. The effects of the attack left it unable to predict when it would hit the ground. The other two behind were helpless at helping or preventing the lead Fletchling from free-falling to the ground, nor were they able to break free in time from how close they were from the ground. Finally, all hell broke loose.

A mighty crash landing, leaving behind a dust cloud as big as a Snorlax.

The three Fletchling collided into the ground and were left unable to move. They were all huddled up in a stack, shaken by the impact of their crash.

The Fletchling were out of energy, and it was time for Pidgey to finish this match once and for all.

"Okay, Pidgey!" Bonnie began. "Finish off with a Tackle. All the way down!"

Pidgey soared into the air before stopping to face its downed enemies. Then, at Bonnie's command, the bird dived down with all its might and made one final Tackle on top of the pile of Fletchling.

And then, another huge dust cloud. Bonnie watched the cloud get bigger and bigger, while wondering if the battle was over. She waited for a few seconds to find out if Pidgey was able to come out victorious.

Then, a black figure darted from out of the dust, flying high as Bonnie caught sight of it. It sped by and landed on the ground in front of her. Upon seeing the figure taking form, Bonnie's worrying frown became a smile. She looked at the crater that was formed afterwards, finding the three gangster birds now fainted.

"Yes! We did it!" She cheered as loud as she could when she saw Pidgey landing safely after clobbering the Fletchling group with its Tackle.

She had achieved her first ever victory. She spun around in pure joy as she held Dedenne in her arms, who also cheered for Bonnie's win.

Back with the Fletchling, Pidgey took a good look at them while giving off a look that could kill. The trio, weakened to the core, looked up at their opponent

"FLETCH!" The birds lost their arrogance and now, overcome with cowardice, zoomed away for their lives, flying away from the forest and to wherever they may never see this Pidgey again.

With the intruders now gone, Pidgey gave off a victorious huff, telling the birds to never come back. The tough Pokemon was able to free itself and its home from the wrath of these mischievous monsters.

Bonnie ran over to Pidgey with excitement, wanting to congratulate the Pokemon for its victory against its tormentors. Bending down to meet it face-to-face, the girl grinned.

"That was a great battle!" She congratulated the Pokemon, raising her fist to show her appreciation for the Pokemon's absolute strength, as well as its obedience to listen to Bonnie, despite not being her own Pokemon.

After all that Bonnie did to allow its success in combat, Pidgey gave Bonnie a smirk, maintaining its tough personality while appreciating the girl's commitment to help it through its problems.

Maybe working with such an experienced Trainer wouldn't be such a bad idea after all? Wait, why did it just think that?

Shrugging off its thoughts, Pidgey then flew off back to its home, leaving Bonnie and Dedenne behind.

"Wow…" Bonnie sighed in admiration of Pidgey's strength in battle. Just how things would have been if she had caught? It would have been a force to be reckoned with, and it was only a Pidgey.

Unfortunately, Bonnie had to accept the reality of nature's will. She only agreed to help Pidgey find some peace and quiet. Nothing more, nothing less. Reluctantly, she acknowledged Pidgey's right to remain a wild Pokemon. It was the least she could do after messing with it.

"Dene?" She felt her right sock being pulled at, catching sight of her Dedenne at her foot. The little guy must have seen Bonnie's frown from her thoughts and wondered if she was doing fine.

"It's nothing, Dedenne." She sweetly smiled at him, although Dedenne knew that her expression was a little forced. "Pidgey's just a tremendous Pokemon. I can only wish we could do more battles together." She picked up Dedenne and raised him to her face level. "But a deal's a deal." The two partners smiled in understanding.

Dedenne reached for Bonnie's fedora before the two walked back to the campsite to pack up and headed for the road.

* * *

The area was finally clear of the camp that Bonnie and Dedenne resided in the night before. The girl chucked in her sleeping bag into her backpack, pushing down the rolled up bag with great force. After a tiring struggle, she breathed out exhaustedly. After packing in the tent device last, she zipped up the bag and dusted her hands.

Dedenne hopped up on top of her again, satisfied that his Trainer was finally ready to leave. Now, all he had to worry about now was to help Bonnie again with their trek back on the road.

The two were ready to leave and resume their journey. Suddenly, they were called upon by a low chirp coming from behind them. Turning to respond, Bonnie saw Pidgey on the ground, looking up to her gratefully.

Bonnie smiled back, returning to Pidgey and kneeling down to give it one last goodbye before it could finally live in peace.

"Looks like you can finally rule this patch of the forest without any more enemies to make. Feel free to fly around and eat as many berries as you want!"

Pidgey remained quiet, unable to respond to Bonnie's sentence, almost feeling like it needed to say something to her.

"And sorry for ruining your day yesterday." Bonnie rubbed the back of head embarrassingly. With all hostilities over, Bonnie and Dedenne were about to leave off. "Well, it's been fun. Goodbye!"

"Dedenne!"

After waving at Pidgey, the two were walking away from Pidgey, off back on their way to Santalune City.

"Pidgey!"

All of a sudden, Bonnie was again called upon by the Pidgey behind her. Coming back to it, the girl saw Pidgey skipping on its feet, heading towards her.

"Huh?" Bonnie called. "What is it, Pidgey?"

Pidgey continued to move up until it was at Bonnie's feet. Then, in a most unexpected way, it came for her leg… and nuzzled on it.

Could it be…? Was it following her simply because…?

"Wait, so you **want** to come with us?" asked a surprised Bonnie. Pidgey nodded, adding up to the revelation. She smiled, estactic that Pidgey, after all the chaos it had been through with her, had decided to come along for the ride. "But why? Don't you want to stay here?"

However, Bonnie's question seemed to have shocked Pidgey, apparently offended by it. Bonnie, on the other hand, meant no offense at all. She was simply surprised by the fact that Pidgey was willing to come.

"Don't get me wrong. I was just wondering what made you change your mind." She knelt down to face it. "So, if you really want to come with me, then I would love to have you in my team!"

"Pidge?" Pidgey was back to being glad.

Back before this decision, it used to think Bonnie was just another bratty human just eager to abuse its power or make it some pet or something. Clearly, after showing it what she could do, Pidgey now acknowledged Bonnie as a competent Trainer, who cared for it as if it was her Pokemon. Now, it **wanted** to be exactly that. As part of her team.

Bonnie could hardly stop herself from squealing joyously. With a powerful flyer on her side, she would be able to take on many challenges. More importantly though, it was her chance to connect with a brand new Pokemon, bonding with it, and helping it grow to become even stronger than before.

"Okay!" Bonnie played with her hat, taking it off and putting back on as a display of pride and exerting fun into the moment. "Pidgey, you're my-!"

"Oh wait…" The moment was abruptly interrupted by a forgetful Bonnie. "Oops, I forgot!" Dedenne and Pidgey fell backwards, baffled that the Trainer had forgotten one important step. "I'm supposed to catch you in a Poke Ball before I make you my own."

Back to the moment with Pidgey, she pulled out her Poke Ball without hesitance. She then looked at Pidgey while the Pokemon did the same to her, assuring each other that there will be a bond that shall help them rival others.

"Okay, here goes!" Swinging her arm, she repeated the process that was badly unsuccessful before. "Poke Ball, go!"

The ball flew and hit Pidgey again, although this time, the Pokemon willingly accepted the hit as the ball opened up and catching it within.

The ball closed and landed down on the floor. Again, it shook up and the button flashed red. However, instead of an unwanted struggle, the Pidgey must had been trying to adjust itself to its new home, whatever it looked like in there.

After a few seconds, the same amount taken for Pidgey to release itself previously, the ball finally stopped with the button stopped flashing and an audible ding was heard.

An Excited Bonnie walked on over triumphantly and picked up her first new Pokemon catch. Holding the ball with pride, she raised it to the air and cheered on, congratulating herself for a job well done.

"Pidgey! You're my first catch!"

"De Dedenne!"

After the celebrations, Bonnie looked at her Poke Ball again, thinking about the new memories she would later make with Pidgey, and also all the other types of Pokemon she could find.

"I can't wait! There's going to be many more Pokemon out there! Waiting for me to train them hard and make our way to the Pokemon League!"

"Dene!" With Dedenne on her side as well, Bonnie was now one more Pokemon stronger. She was now so confident she could burst up in the sky and come back down like a meteor. A Draco Meteor.

Finally, after catching Pidgey, she could focus on getting out of the forest, and she exactly what to do. Tossing Pidgey's Poke Ball, she deployed her new ally.

The Pokemon appeared right in front of her, ready to obey her first command as its official Trainer.

"Okay, Pidgey. As your first assignment, we would be so happy if you'd lead the way out of the forest for us." At Bonnie's will, Pidgey acknowledged, taking it to the sky and prepared to lead Bonnie back on course.

With Pidgey in the air, Bonnie and Dedenne were well on their way, tailing the bird as it showed them the way. Their way to Santalune City and Bonnie's first Gym Battle.

* * *

 **At last! Bonnie has successfully captured a Pidgey as her first catch to her team. Can she train it enough to face Viola at Santalune City? Find out as the journey continues!**

* * *

 **A/N~ Chapter 3, fin!**

 **I decided to make Bonnie's unsuccessful catching of Pidgey similar to Ash's attempt to capture the Pidgey seen from the very first episode of the anime, as well as his fateful encounter with the Spearow, albeit with much less drama and more comedy.**

 **I originally wanted Bonnie to catch a Fletchling like Ash did, but then I wanted to let her journey be as unique as possible, so I changed things up a bit.**

 **I'm in the process of writing Bonnie's eventual battle with Viola, and I really want to make it big enough for the whole chapter. However, I am currently updating my other fanfiction stories as well, so don't expect a speedy update here. So, wish me luck!**

 **Special thanks to Marcellasnow231, MerlockVonBaron, xBrokenwing, Dutchess Frost, JustFire45, LadyNyx and princelotor81 for liking or following up on my story!**

 **And now, to respond to this story's first reviewer!**

 **Marcellasnow231: That's a really good idea, but right now, I'm not really sure about giving Bonnie any Alolan Pokemon as of now, so I will consider the options** **Thanks for the feedback too**


	4. A Child's Training

**Chapter 4: A Child's Training**

Route 4,

Kalos,

3 AFC,

"Pidgey, use Gust!"

The sound of blistering winds filled the air and the scenery being blown away by a minor twister heading straight for a little mouse Pokemon trying to brave the winds. Behind the bird was Bonnie Edison, training her new Pokemon in preparation for a new challenge.

It had been almost hours after a rather tumultuous but rewarding experience for our young Bonnie.

Previously, she met up with a very hostile and territorial Pidgey who was always spitting seeds, bashing her up and even blowing her away with its Gust attack for her persistence in catching it. Eventually, through a lot of care for its needs and help in dealing with a pesky bunch of Fletchling, the Pokemon had opened up to her and was now a welcome addition to her team, alongside her trusty Dedenne.

After being lost in the forest surrounding Route 4, she was now well on her way back on the road to Santalune City thanks to Pidgey's help.

She was able to walk on the straight dirt path again, thankfully glad to have a smooth and clean walk unlike the rough traversing of the tall wild grass and thick trees she was forced to go through to catch her Pidgey.

Said bird Pokemon was now being trained by its Trainer after getting a rest from leading its new Trainer through the forest. It was certainly happy to be part of Bonnie's group, even though it had to leave behind its old home to follow her and get stronger, having the feeling that perhaps, if Bonnie could prove further, her Pokemon party would be its new home.

Bonnie was feeling all pumped up even after a tiring walk. It must had been the excitement of catching her first Pokemon that lifted her spirits, leaving her daydreaming of the new possibilities of even more friends to capture and train, or it could be the comfortable feeling of being able to walk on a flat road again after the grass, trees and wild Pokemon she had to deal with.

Either way, she was now in the middle of a training session with her Pokemon, testing their strengths before her first ever Gym Battle in Santalune City.

Dedenne was also trying to maximize its potential by taking on Pidgey as an opponent against Bonnie, allowing the girl to train their new friend.

"Dene!" The Pokemon was soon blown away a few feet until he crashed to the ground. The winds died down as Bonnie called out to him.

"Come on, Dedenne!" She cheered. "Let's get back up, shall we?!" The little guy leapt up and was ready for another attack.

"Dene…DEE!" After barely enduring the winds, Dedenne fired a lone Thundershock on the bird Pokemon. Pidgey caught sight of the speeding bolt of electricity and planned to dodge the attack with its flight skills.

"KRROWW!"

"Pidgey!" Bonnie screamed worriedly. Unfortunately, it was unable to fly away in time. The bolt zapped at its body and shocking the poor Pokemon. The voltage began to jolt all senses in its body as Pidgey was forced to land down to recover from the shock.

Bonnie had her hands on her hips, looking quite disappointed with the outcome of the battle. Shaking her head at herself, she walked for the landed bird.

"Oh man." she sighed. "I guess you need some practice on your flying."

Pidgey could feel a pang of disappointment in its heart. For Bonnie to call out its apparent lack of skills, it was a little discouraging. Nevertheless, it did feel that Bonnie was right about one thing. It clearly needed more practice, for after what Bonnie told it about Viola and her powerful bug Pokemon, every bit of training counted.

"But don't feel bad. We just need to work on your manoeuvring. I know Ash's Fletchling would have been to do it, but I'm sure we'll find some way for you to beat Viola's Pokemon!"

Bonnie's words of encouragement restored Pidgey's own confidence, raising a wing in approval. Dedenne joined the two, apologizing to Pidgey for the attack it did. Pidgey just nodded and chirped positively, accepting the apology.

"And Dedenne." Bonnie then called for the rodent. "I know your Electric attacks are strong." Dedenne smiled brightly at Bonnie's comment. "But I'm more worried on your endurance against wind attacks." It then lowered its head sadly after hearing Bonnie's later sentence.

Noticing their disappointment, Bonnie stood firm and gave them a knowing look.

"Don't feel bad, guys." She said, prompting the two Pokemon to stand at attention, listening to Bonnie like a public speaker giving out words of inspiration to a crowd in need. "We just need to work a little harder and become strong enough to withstand these attacks."

They all agreed, determined to carry on further and achieve the level they needed to fight back against Viola. Pulling out her Poke Ball, she withdrew Pidgey back to rest. After stuffing the ball into her pocket, she reached for her bag and let Dedenne hop aboard on her fedora.

"We better go sit down somewhere and discuss a strategy to combat Viola's Bug Pokemon. I'm pretty sure she'll stick to her old duo to battle us."

"Dene."

Bonnie looked back at her previous memories of Ash's Gym Battle with Viola.

Surskit was, without a shadow of a doubt, a force to be reckoned with. Even at its tiny size and low Evolution stage, it was capable of launching powerful beam attacks. It was able to turn an entire field of dirt into a blanket of thick slippery ice, allowing for its thin fine legs to ski across as if it were doing the same on water with the same grace. Its Signal Beam was also a hard-hitter, making short work of any opponent who could not have their Pokemon dodge the move. All of these strengths made Surskit so formidable that it even went up against another Gym Leader, Grant's Onix and managed to hold on for a few minutes without getting squashed!

Then, there was Vivillon, Viola's strongest Pokemon. With all of its beauty and grace, the Scale Pokemon was still packed with immense power and strength. Its large wings make for a tremendous wind maker, throwing in blistering winds that could send a Golem flying. And that was only the icing of the cake. Its Solarbeam was just as powerful and awesome as a Hyper Beam, completely decimating its competition with absolute force.

Surely enough, even with just two Pokemon, Viola had a powerhouse in this team.

With all of these strategies in mind, Bonnie was sure that she will face them head on sooner or later. However, she had her memories to her advantage, remembering on the tactics used to combat against Viola. If she could get Dedenne and Pidgey to follow up or come up with new techniques, she felt that she would have a better chance of taking on Viola's Pokemon.

* * *

Bonnie and Dedenne were now once again within the woods, away from the route. The girl looked around the thick forest for a nice spot to sit down and think of the strategies she would need against Viola.

Otherwise, Bonnie would also resort to another tempting idea; one that had now made her change her mind about relaxing down on the ground.

"Perhaps we'll find some random Pokemon or Trainer to challenge to pick up on your skills. I could use another Pokemon to my team. That would help even the odds, wouldn't it?" Bonnie said with optimism at an all-time high, with Dedenne agreeing to his Trainer.

"Dedenne." With the thrill of going on a Pokemon catch, Bonnie continued on walking, allowing Dedenne to sleep off on his own.

The Trainer scanned the forest around her, turning her body round and round, bobbing her head up and down to make sure that every branch and every patch of grass is checked and confirmed.

"I wonder what we'll find next." Bonnie enthusiastically said to herself, playing out the brand new types of Pokemon just waiting to be caught and trained.

Much to her disappointment, however, there was just not a single Pokemon willing to cross her path. The tiring search lingered on for ten more fruitless minutes, and yet, not one critter even bothered to make an appearance.

"Oh, come on. Really?" complained Bonnie. "How has it been so easy for Ash and the others to stumble upon a Pokemon while I just go around like I'm invisible or something? Really?"

Her brows furrowed and she let out a huff of frustration for the long minutes of searching, all while the Sun was shining brightly on her, heating up her skin from the rays of light.

"Hrrgh…" Finally, she could not afford to be patient for long, choosing to sit down against a tree with a pouted face.

Dedenne noticed to stop in motion and saw that his Trainer was now down on the ground with a tree behind her. He scurried down to see if there was any problem that forced her down.

From his view, he could see the frustrated Trainer looking down at the ground with a face of disappointment and impatience.

"This really sucks, Dedenne." she ranted. "How could I possibly not see a single Pokemon at all? Not even a Scatterbug."

"Dene?" The Pokemon just shrugged his shoulders. Bonnie took her time to cool off and breathed out her vexation, resulting to just resting her head against the bark.

"So much for another Pokemon…" Defeated, Bonnie could no longer carry on, giving up on her pursuit for new members to the team. What did Ash always tell her? Never give up? She guessed she learnt the hard way that not everything was worth not giving up. Besides, maybe she'll do some catching another time. There's always a lot of time and places to explore and catch Pokemon in.

Realizing that her odds were against her for now and deciding to result to more training for her two current Pokemon, Bonnie stood back up and planned to resume the next leg of her journey.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. She perked up her ears and cupped her hand to her ear, listening to a noise.

She listened in to what was like a series of murmurs and cries coming from her right, deeper into the forest. The voices were faint, but as far as Bonnie could hear, the cries sounded troubling, almost like an argument was happening.

"Sounds like trouble." And if anyone knew Bonnie, she would most definitely jump to find out what was going on. Not that she was a busy body… well, at least not anymore or so she claimed, but the sounds of a fight were a sure call for help or at least something worth investigating. Pushed to act, Bonnie rushed the scene, wanting to find out what the commotion was all about.

* * *

Rustling through the bushes, the girl Trainer was inching closer to where the voices were coming from. The noises became clearer and louder as she moved, indicating that she was getting nearer to the source.

Finally, after hearing enough, Bonnie stopped, crouched down to the ground and walked behind a thick line of bushes, where the situation was.

As soon as she was about to lay her fingers into the bush to push through to look, she could already hear a very unsettling call.

"Please! Stop!" She opened up and peeked through the leaves with Dedenne popping out on top of her.

Bonnie saw four boys conversing each other in a scuffle from the looks of it. One boy, seemingly younger and smaller than the other three boys, was down on the ground while the others were looking down on him. The biggest boy of the group, fat and tall, was showing him a fist and smirking at him. The other two boys snickered as the little boy dragged back from the bigger boy. Beside the young boy, a pink deer-like Pokemon with a flower on its head was trying to comfort him with a nuzzle. On the big kid's side was a slimy Pokemon shaped like a mound with its ooze dropping down.

On the big kid's hand, there was a Poke Ball, but with a blue hemisphere replacing the usual red, marked by two red lines coming from back to front towards the middle button.

Bonnie knew what was happening from the very moment she saw the whole scene. The hostile environment was a sure sign that this was nothing more than a cold case of bullies ganging up on a little kid. She would have commented on the fact that the Deerling was just the cutest thing, but right now, even she had to put all cheery expressions aside and spectate the scene from afar.

She cringed her face and furrowed her eyebrows angrily. If there was a type of people that she didn't like the most were bullies. She had met several in her past and of all the times to come cross them again, it just had to be now. Even though she was not the victim, she was still very much bewildered by the sight of a bunch of kids ganging up on another kid.

"Make me, kid!" The big kid clenched his fist at his victim, inciting more fear. The small kid continued to back away, much to his Deerling's growing worry.

"G-give me back my Great Ball!" he tried to defend himself. Unfortunately, his plea was not taken seriously. The boys made taunting laughs at him while pointing fingers at him.

The Deerling was now becoming very tired of the bullies' antics and moved at front to defend its Trainer.

"Deerling!" It warned the human and his Grimer, but the warnings were just laughed off as well.

"What a puny Pokemon! Not to mention _girly_ too."

The boys kept on teasing the two, while the Grimer made a menacing look on the Deerling.

"Grimer Gri!" The Sludge Pokemon threatened the Deerling to back off, or it would show no mercy. Even with its dangerous look, Deerling refused to budge, defiantly standing in front of its Trainer.

"You better tell your Deerling to show some respect around here, Todd!" The second boy from behind called.

"Yeah!" The third one added. "You don't want to mess with Raymond and his Grimer. You don't want slime to dirty your little diapers now, do 'ya?"

"P-please!" Todd cried out. "Leave me alone!"

"Oh no." The one they call Raymond sneered at him; his voice filled with arrogance. "Your Deerling's been a naughty little Pokemon. So, I'm going to teach it a lesson!"

Just then, Deerling leapt forward and charged at the bully.

Raymond panicked at the sudden move. He rashly called upon his Pokemon to defend him from the attack.

"No! Deerling!" Todd cried again, but to no avail. Deerling kept on moving.

"Grimer! Use Sludge Attack! Quickly!"

"Gri! MER!" The slimy Pokemon swung its mucky hand at the charging Deerling, releasing a blob of icky sludge and sent it hurling towards Deerling. The attack then splashed on the beautiful Pokemon's skin, enveloping its whole body with sludge.

Somehow, while the slime was all over it, Deerling was losing its energy from the attack, and it happened so fast that the victim was sent crashing down to the ground. It then fell right in front of the victorious duo.

"Oh no!" Todd held his hand out front, traumatized beyond belief as he watched his Pokemon become powerless by the Sludge. The fallen Deerling was now covered with the filthy slime all over it, which was still taking effect on it in draining its energy, let alone also being blinded by the sludge on its eyes.

"Heh!" Raymond wiped his nose with one hand and had his other hand on his hip. Grimer imitated its Trainer by doing the same. "What a weakling."

"Grimer!" The two bullies chuckled coldly, followed by the other two boys.

Todd wept after watching his Deerling take the full blow of the attack. Unable to contain his sadness, he shed tears, which earned more taunts from the bullies.

"And now! To add some punishment to this little whimp!"

Todd got the shock of his life when, even after all that had happened to him and Deerling, Raymod still had intentions to bring more pain. There was no stopping this monster until he is satisfied with his kill.

Grimer naturally crawled towards the downed and blinded Deerling ready to bring the hurt.

Todd did nothing but sobbed, desperate to hope for any miracle to spare the pain he and his Deerling would suffer. Grimer was already in front of Deerling and raised its arm to make another dirty move.

"DENE!"

Suddenly, a streak of electricity blazed towards Grimer and hit the ground between it and Deerling, blasting the dirt off and startling everyone within the area. The Grimer stopped to avoid being hit by the bolt, while everyone looked to the direction from where the attack originated from.

"Huh?!" There, they saw a slightly older girl with blonde hair and a little Dedenne standing firm. The little mouse was still sparking up, waiting to deliver another attack.

"You leave that kid alone!" Bonnie warned the boys.

"Dedenne!" Dedenne squeaked in the same manner. The boys walked up, passing Todd and Deerling, seemingly unfazed by Bonnie's warning.

"Look here, you! You better scram!" Raymond pointed rudely at Bonnie.

"Grimer Grime!" Grimer added.

"Yeah! What are you going to do, girly?!" The other boys also teased at her.

Bonnie was now steaming at the sounds of these discriminative clowns underestimating her because of her gender. It was about time they learnt their lesson.

"Oh, I'll show you what a girl like me can do!"

"Grimer, use Sludge on that puny rat!" Raymond ordered his Grimer to launch another slime ball at Dedenne.

"Dedenne, use Thundershock on Grimer!" She directed her Pokemon to launch the attack.

"Dene… DEE!" After being infuriated by being called a rat, Dedenne unleashed its strongest Thundershock towards Grimer. The lightning bolt surged towards the sludge ball, blasting through it as it exploded into many bits. The bolt then struck the Grimer who launched the attack. Upon impact, the Grimer was put down by that single attack, shutting its eyes in utter pain.

"GRIMER!" It yelled. At once, the Grimer drooped down as if it was melting. Its eyes still shut, Raymond put up a baffling look at the outcome.

"Ah! Grimer!" The boy could not believe what had transpired. His Grimer was beaten by a little Dedenne?! "Get up, Grimer!" After trying to encourage it, it took thirty seconds for Raymond to realize the inevitable.

"Looks like your Grimer's unable to battle." gloated Bonnie. "Give it up!"

Grunting, he came over to the defeated Pokemon and recalled it into its Poke Ball, angered by the loss. He stared at Bonnie and gave her a nasty glare, vowing to do more pain.

"Ergh!" Raymond let out a frustrating cry before stomping his foot on the ground. "Come on, boys! I got what I need." Eventually, there was no point continuing the humiliation. At his call, Raymond took the rest of his gang before walking away with his prize.

"Dude, did you just lose to a girl?" one of the boys teased, only for him to be whacked in the back by Raymond, causing him to nearly trip.

"You shut up, Malcolm!"

Finally, after a while, the boys were out of earshot and nowhere to be seen, disappearing into the forest.

The situation was now defused as Bonnie called Dedenne back to the top of her hat. The Pokemon gladly returned to the comfortable spot on his Trainer's head.

The sounds of battle and shouts were now replaced with silence. Bonnie looked to the boy and his Deerling, only to find the boy holding the Deerling by its head, cradling it with his hands being slimed by the sludge.

"Deerling. Are you okay?" Todd asked sadly; his face riddled with devastation.

"Deer…" The Pokemon trembled in pain as it tried to get back up. It then cried out in agony while it fell to the ground again. Todd panicked at the event and quickly caught Deerling before it could crash its head on the ground.

"Oh no…" Todd grew more frantic as Deerling's pain continued to drain it of much needed energy. "What am I going to do?" He held on to the Deerling with the care of a Kangaskhan mother to its baby, while also weeping for being unable to help it recover.

Witnessing the sorry scene, Bonnie decided to take action. Clearly, judging by the kid's size and inability to act out against the bullies, this kid must be one too young to be a Trainer. She slipped her backpack to her front and dug through the contents inside. Immediately, she was able to fish out a spray bottle filled with yellow fluid inside of it. She then walked over to Todd and handed it over to the boy.

"Here." told Bonnie. "Use this."

"Huh?" Looking up, Todd could see Bonnie handing to him the spray, curious about what good would that do.

"It's an Antidote. It should be able to heal the Poison off of it."

"Poison?" Todd's inexperience was further proven, not even knowing of the condition that was affecting Deerling.

"Just use it first." Bonnie did not want to waste any more time. Deerling was losing strength each passing minute, and the last thing she wanted to happen was it to faint and make things more depressing than it needed it to be.

Bonnie's insistence was a sign to Todd to just go ahead and spray the stuff on his Deerling. Without hesitation he took hold of the yellow spray bottle and proceeded to aim it at Deerling's back. He pulled the spray trigger and started spritzing drops of the antidote on the injured Pokemon.

Tiny stains were now spotted on Deerling's fur, with the antidote now soaked by the little drops of it. To remove the sludge, Bonnie went to work and pulled out a towel from her bag. Todd slowly moved Deerling to Bonnie's lap as she began wrapping it around Deerling and rubbing it all around it as gently as she could, removing the gunk of it while staining the towel. She could always wash it up at the Pokemon Centre before having her next shower. Bit by bit, the sludge was finally off the Deerling, allowing its pink fur to be almost completely clean, with a little bit of dirt still stuck to it.

Stroking its fur, Todd could finally smile in relief feeling the soft fur again.

Todd could notice that Deerling was starting to breathe much calmer now, indicating that the antidote was working.

"See, when a Pokemon is Poisoned, it will take some damage even after the attack that poisoned it has finished. The best cure for the job is a genuine Antidote." Good thing Bonnie packed one up from a mart back home, or this would have been a real disaster.

"Deerling." The Pokemon cooed at the comfort of its friend's hand on its head. The boy faced Bonnie as he stroked Deerling's head.

"Thank you so much." he thanked.

"No problem. Just helping out a person in need is all!" cheered Bonnie.

"Dene!" agreed Dedenne.

"By the way, my name's Todd." The boy then introduced himself to Bonnie.

"The name's Bonnie. And this is my Dedenne."

"Dedenne!"

After feeling a little better, Deerling began to move its feet again and tried rise back up.

"Deer!" But then, it slumped back down again. still wincing in pain. Todd grabbed on to it and wrapped his arms around its belly.

Slowly descending down to the ground, the boy continued to hug the Deerling carefully as he tried to comfort it.

"I'm so sorry, Deerling. I wish I could have done something." he sighed sadly.

"Deerling will be fine. It just needs some extra healing." Bonnie then took her bag again and grabbed for a bottle of Potion she also got from home. She then moved to spray the soothing fluid onto the poor Deerling.

She backed away, allowing the Potion to seep in and wither away the pain it had suffered from the ooze. She expected the Potion to have fully healed the Pokemon back to a sustainable level of strength.

However, the Deerling's face was still showing an expression of hurt and struggle. Its legs trembled, weakening its balance and causing it to nearly fall.

"Must have been bad." Bonnie could not put a finger as to why Deerling was still hurting. "Hold on." When it came to identifying a Pokemon's problems, she had to result to researching the Pokemon itself. So, it was time to open up her PokeDex and find out what was going wrong.

" _Deerling, the Season Pokemon. Their coloring changes according to the season and can be slightly affected by the temperature and humidity as well._ "

After the PokeDex read the description, Bonnie then looked to the upper right corner of the screen to identify the type. She found two mini bars, one white and another green, with the names of the types placed on the both of them.

"So that's why it's still hit hard. Other than being a Normal-type, it's a Grass-type too." acknowledged Bonnie as she stuffed her PokeDex back in her pocket.

"Well, what do we do?" Todd, holding onto Deerling, asked worriedly. Without hesitation, Bonnie took out another bottle of Potion from her bag. Her last one.

"Here. I'll use my last one." She was about to spray her Potion on the Deerling. However, she was then stopped when Todd stood back up, placing Deerling gently down on the ground and waving his hands out front.

"No, wait!" He wailed, catching Bonnie by surprise. "I… don't want to trouble you."

Bonnie could not understand why Todd refused her help right about now. His Deerling was still in pain after the Sludge attack proved to be super effective, but he was still not willing to accept the Potion now.

"But… but your Deerling…" Her voice stumbled.

"It's fine. Really." Todd continued to insist. "It's my fault Deerling got hurt in the first place. I don't want to drag other people into this."

It was then that Bonnie frowned sadly at the boy. Those bullies were as wrong as they come for targeting the boy, but to hear that kid blame himself for his Pokemon's pain, that was a real shocker. She began to feel very sorry for the boy as he slowly stood back up.

"I'll just find an Oran Berry somewhere in this forest." Todd's voice softened again, lowering his head down in shame. Deerling watched on as its friend was feeling the aftermath of his torment; itself too feeling let down by the disastrous attempt to defend the boy.

Upon hearing him, Bonnie had had enough.

"You know what? I'll help 'ya find one." She declared, causing Todd to confront her again.

"That's really okay, Bonnie! But…"

"No buts!" The girl interrupted him, hushing the boy in the process. This time, Bonnie will have her say. "If you wanna heal your Deerling, sure. But there's no way I'm letting you beat yourself up."

"But… It's my…" Then, Bonnie pulled the weirdest trick in the book. She bent down at Todd's level, grasping her hands together and… begged?

"Just let me help, please?" she sweetly pleaded.

"Dene De!" The Pokemon did the same. Todd and Deerling widened their eyes awkwardly at their desperate pleas. They wondered if she was feeling alright, even if she was insistent on helping.

Nevertheless, Deerling was still in a dire state. Looking up at its Trainer, it then gave a weak smile, telling the boy it was okay to let Bonnie help out.

Todd saw no option to argue with. Thus, he looked at Bonnie, still frowning, and nodded in approval.

"O-okay."

Bonnie was extremely satisfied enough to leap in the air and land on her two feet, placing her hands on her hips with the same determination etched in her face and devotion burning in her heart.

She pulled out the Poke Ball that had Pidgey resting inside and threw it up to release the small bird Pokemon. It fluttered above the group while facing Bonnie at attention.

"Wow…" Todd stared in awe as he saw the sight of Bonnie summoning a Pokemon in front of his own eyes and not through a television screen. He did not even get to see Raymond's Grimer coming out of its Poke Ball, so seeing Bonnie doing it, and knowing that she was a good person with evident care of Pokemon, felt even more special.

"Alright." She faced her Pokemon. "Dedenne, Pidgey, go find us an Oran Berry we can use. You know which one to find."

"Dene!" Dedenne made a salute, but since his arm was too small to reach his forehead, he did as much as tap his chest. It would have to do.

"Pidgey!" The bird Pokemon mimicked the salute, only it was able to make a full salute with no problem, even flying with one wing as it gestured.

The two then ran off to the bushes and disappeared in search for the ripe blue berry that can restore Deerling back to normal. After living in this exact same forest long before he even met Bonnie, Dedenne was sure to remember to find the right berry for the job. And of course, Pidgey should also be very familiar with his old home enough to locate some sources of his own.

"Oh!" Then, Bonnie stopped them for a while. "And do fetch us some other berries to eat as well!"

Nodding once more, the pair went off to pursue the fruits they needed.

Once the Pokemon disappeared into the woods, Bonnie returned her attention to Todd and his Deerling.

Right now, the boy was once again tending to Deerling with an affectionate hold that made Bonnie coo inside. She was really happy to see such care from a person to a Pokemon and vice versa coming from these two friends.

However, she then noticed that Todd, despite the improving conditions, still had tears flowing down his cheeks. Wondering if he was alright, Bonnie went up to him and bent down to talk to him.

"Hey. What's wrong?" she began. Todd looked at her, slightly surprised, but immediately answered her afterwards, but not before rubbing his eyes to dry out the tears.

"Those boys…" he said with a stricken tone. "They took my Great Ball."

"A Great Ball?" Bonnie asked further.

"Yeah. You know? The ones that allow a Trainer to catch a Pokemon with greater chances?" Bonnie knew what a Great Ball was, but judging the situation, there was no point talking back since the Poke Ball was something of a treasure to him. "It was a gift from my uncle from Sinnoh as a birthday present."

Her silence was then replaced with shock and anger mixed together with a furious taste of frustration.

"And those bullies just took it from you?!" Todd nodded at Bonnie's question. Now, Bonnie was fuming inside. Those fiends did more than enough when they threatened Todd and Deerling and weakened the Season Pokemon, but to steal a prized possession? They had gone too far. That was not all that baffled her, though.

"But… why didn't you do anything?" she calmly asked, keeping her composure as she continued talking to Todd for his sake.

The boy then looked down again, with his eyes being shrouded in the shadows beneath his hair.

"It's just… I…" After a few brief seconds of sniffling, he then confessed to Bonnie. "Don't know how to battle."

"What?" Bonnie was getting more curious about Todd, wondering why, after all that abuse, he would be unable to do anything.

Then again, however, she already pointed out something about the boy that seemed to justify his inability to battle. This kid seemed to be younger than her, judging by his small size compared to her. Coupled that with the unfamiliarity of Pokemon battling, it made sense to her that Todd was unable to do anything because Todd was not ten years old. Thus, Todd was not a Pokemon Trainer.

Regardless, Todd carried on before she could speak up.

"Well, I'm… not even a Trainer, and I don't even know what kind of attacks Deerling can use. She was actually a baby from my mother's Sawsbuck, and when my birthday came two weeks ago, she decided that I could keep her. And that's how we both became best pals."

"Deer…" As he told his story, Todd smoothly coursed his fingers across Deerling's short but dirtied fur to provide extra comfort.

"That's really cute." She said with half happiness, while she was also still inquiring about Todd's inability to at least counter. "But still, you could have at least tried. Deerling was willing to fight."

"Yeah." Todd protested. "But I don't even know if what she did was an official move."

After looking at Deerling, Todd teared up, unable to handle the fact of his supposed failure to protect his Deerling. He was soon overcome with grief and depression, losing hope for his future.

"What's the point?! I'll never be a Pokemon Trainer now!" He neared his head towards Deerling's body and sobbed some more.

"Deerling…" The Pokemon in turn tried to comfort her Trainer by rubbing her head against his black hair. She really wanted Todd to know that it was her own decision to fight and protect him, but being a Pokemon speaking to a young boy who had just met only weeks ago was harder than it looked.

Bonnie and Dedenne looked at each other with mutual empathy for the two. After all, Bonnie also cared for Dedenne when he was not her official Pokemon even at such a young age. What it was like for her to look after him before was almost the same as Todd with his Deerling. They saw it as an early start before the real adventure begins. It should be a beneficial step in becoming a Trainer, but Todd's feelings had been hurt enough to discourage him.

Unable to fathom with the idea of giving up, Bonnie went over to convince him to let go of his sadness. She touched his shoulder, getting his attention.

"Come on, Todd." she told him. "You can't just let this affect what you choose to be."

"I let Deerling get hurt." Todd still protested. "What kind of Trainer would I be if I just let my Pokemon end up being beaten?"

"Todd, I understand your pain. It's tough seeing a Pokemon getting themselves in a pickle." The boy looked at his Deerling, feeling a little worse about remembering how Deerling ended up being hurt. "But you can't just blame yourself for what you weren't able to do. Deerling just did what was natural. It wanted to protect you, no matter how dangerous the threat is. And if you ask me, that is pure devotion from a Pokemon if I ever see it."

After Bonnie's motivational words, Todd gave himself more thought on himself and Deerling's devotion to his well-being. Deerling did care for him a lot, but never would he think that she would go so far to protect him.

"Gee, I-I didn't really think about that."

With that in mind, he gave Deerling a sad little grin in appreciation of her actions, nuzzling his cheek against her forehead.

"Thanks, Deerling. You're really something special."

"Deerling!" The Pokemon returned his affection, gently rubbing against him as well. Bonnie's smile got wider watching the blissful moment between boy and Pokemon happening in front of her. Her feelings were even warmer with the fact that she was able to talk sense into the boy.

However, the moment was still bittersweet. A frown was seen on Todd's face, earning more concern from Bonnie.

"But still…" he mused. "I wish I would have gotten my Great Ball back." He rested his chin on top of his palm while settling his elbow down on his lap, feeling more lost by the unfortunate event.

Bonnie too regretted not doing more for Todd. If only she knew about the theft of Todd's Great Ball sooner. She would have made them give it back to him.

However, that was when she had an idea.

"Alright! Then it's simple." exclaimed Bonnie. "If you want that Great Ball back, then you're going to have to battle those punks to get it!"

"Wh-what?!" Todd yelped in shock. Did Bonnie just say what he didn't want her to say? He was to battle the crooks who took his Great Ball? He could not believe what crazy idea Bonnie had concocted. "You just heard me earlier, right? I-I can't battle. I'm too young."

"That's no excuse if you're being harassed by a bunch of big bullies. You're going to have to stand up to them or you'll end up being a target for who knows how long." Todd grew very distressed by Bonnie's opinion in the matter to exclaim to her. His voice, shrill and stumbling, being expressed to Bonnie, hoping to pull himself away from the impossible task of battling without any experience.

"But I…" Todd stuttered. "I… I can't."

"Why?" snapped Bonnie. "Those boys just took the one treasure you can always remember your uncle by. And you're just going to let them? What's keeping you from doing anything about it?" At this point, Bonnie bit her tongue after realizing that she may had gone too far.

However, Todd was still going on, blurting out more about his inability.

"I… I'm scared… And Deerling… What's going to happen to her if I let her fight those boys again?"

Bonnie thought about it a little more, thinking of another way to convince Todd. Then, she had one way to settle it. It was time to result to the one way her brother Clemont knew of. The logical way. At the same time, though, she had to sound very truthful and effective because no way could logic alone be enough, so she suited for more emotion into the mix.

She began her statement.

"Listen, Todd." She cleared up for him as he listened in. Knowing how she sincere she was, Todd allowed her to speak uninterrupted.

"There's a clear difference between battling as a Trainer and battling for yourself. "When you become a Pokemon Trainer, you're going to end up meeting despicable people like them in your life. There are many people out there who would do anything to get what they want. They could be thieves. They could be gangsters. They could be members of some evil organization who could be bent on making others suffer. And if you're going to let a bunch of losers like those boys get the better of you, then I say we step up!"

Todd was now feeling a lot more frightened by the possibilities of horrible people willing to bring pain to him and Deerling. Those kind of bad guys could make Raymond and his gang look like mere kindergarteners.

Bonnie could go on about the bad people she knew of, but right now, it would be overkill to do so, especially for Todd.

"Wh-what do you suggest I do?" asked Todd, slightly intimidated.

"When it comes to being harassed by these people, there are many exceptions to battling." Bonnie hunched her shoulders up while she continued. "When the going gets tough, you're going to have to do whatever it takes to protect the things, people, and especially Pokemon you love. You need to stand up for yourself and show these people that, even at such a young age, you are willing to defend yourself."

At once, Bonnie gave Todd a brand new sense of realization, or perhaps a completely reasonable way to convince him of Pokemon training.

Maybe she was right after all. Perhaps it could be best to forget about his troubles and not let his flaws get in the way of being a Pokemon Trainer. Thanks to Bonnie, he knew he had to step up and show the world like he dreamt of doing one day.

"I-I understand. Thanks, Bonnie." Todd nodded slightly as he acknowledged Bonnie's support.

"I'll have to tell 'ya. Deerling clearly shows how much she cares for you enough to come up and fight. She'll be a wonderful battler once you get some of that spirit in you." Bonnie continued to cheer him up even more, while also crediting Deerling's own power.

"And another thing, all Pokemon, no matter how small or young, Deerling will always have some moves available for you. At Deerling's age and level, she should have some moves of its own, even if they are not up to the standards."

Deerling gave a small scoff. She was somewhat offended by Bonnie's words about its skills. She did, however, know that the older Trainer was right. It had been only weeks since she hatched from its Egg, and not much training was done to make her strong enough to take on that Grimer. She would need all the help she could get.

"I think that by learning to battle, you do so much on the long run, Todd. Trust me. I used to be able to learn battling myself even when I was your age."

Todd looked upon Bonnie with admiration, awed by how Bonnie was able to show him how much she knew of Pokemon. Working with her would be just what he needed. Those mean old kids would think twice to mess with him and Bonnie again.

Then, the group listened in to what sounded like slow squeaky grunting noises coupled with a set of fluttering sounds coming from behind Bonnie. They turned around and there they saw Dedenne walking in and then, Pidgey flying from the sky and coming in for a landing.

"Oh, here's Dedenne and Pidgey right now." In Dedenne's grasp, a lone blue berry was being cuddled by the small rodent, considering it was almost the size of his whole chest.

Pidgey had better luck carrying more berries as each of its talons had a different type of berry in its hold. One was a reddish orange berry with spikes all over it and another was a yellow pear-like one.

They both approached their Trainer with their bounty and gave them to her. Bonnie happily accepted the berries from them and flashed an appreciative grin in return.

"Thanks, you two!" she cheerfully thanked the two Pokemon for their efforts. Seeing that they were not going to eat simply meant that they must had had some spoils on their own before picking up more for the group.

"Dene!" Dedenne squeaked before it let out a hiccup, further proving that his hunger was satisified.

"Krow!" Pidgey also voiced its gratitude in helping out a fellow Pokemon, and a few hungry stomachs. With its job done for now, Pidgey soared low enough for Bonnie to zap it back into its Poke Ball.

She decided to drop down one of the berries and gave the other two to her new friends. Primarily, she gave the Oran Berry, the blue one, to Deerling for her to fully recover.

Bonnie felt like a Pokemon's meal is made all the more special when the Trainer, or in this case friend, is the one who feeds it. Thus, she handed the Oran Berry to Todd before giving him his Aspear Berry.

"Here you go. Now feed it to her." Todd took the Oran Berry and the Aspear Berry with both hands. He then moved the Oran Berry to Deerling's mouth while holding onto the Aspear Berry for later.

Deerling took a little whiff at the berry with a few sniffles. She being part Grass-type had made her completely careful around the food it wanted to consume. After smelling the fruit, she took one good bite out of the berry, chewing in a chunk of the fruit with pleasure.

After enjoying the savory taste, Deerling swallowed down the chewed bits into her stomach, allowing the nutrients of the berry to be absorbed into the Pokemon's body and slowly regaining her health.

Deerling continued to chow down on the sweet and scrumptious berry, consuming it in a few bites until there was no more of it to devour. Finally, after eating the Oran Berry, Deerling could feel her strength being recovered after a minute and rose back to her feet without any problems.

"Deer!" She stood happily and cheerfully, stroking herself against Todd's cheek and making the boy laugh with joy.

"Hahaha! You're okay." he cried in pure delight.

Bonnie watched the exchange rather fondly as she then petted Dedenne in her arms. Nothing was more touching to them than a Pokemon bonding with a human of its choice. She grabbed for the last berry that was foraged by Dedenne and Pidgey. Before she could munch, she was then approached by Todd and Deerling.

Todd looked at her with much dedication and courage before finally speaking up to her.

"Bonnie." he began. He then fired away with a fist pumped in front of him and shouted in full confidence. "Will you train me and Deerling and help me get my Great Ball back?!"

"Deer!" With the combined force of Pokemon and uh… pre-Trainer as Bonnie put it, she gave an accepting smile, at the ready to teach Todd on how to defend himself and show Deerling what it means to be in a full battle.

"It's a deal! We'll give you guys a pre-emptive training session to give you a head start!" With her eyes closed with a toothy grin, she took a big chomp out of the berry and wiped her mouth before swallowing it.

"Yum!"

Unfortunately, she failed to see what kind of berry Dedenne had given her.

Three…

Two…

One…

"YYAAAAHHHH!" A powerful flame burst out of Bonnie's mouth, shocking all around her. She ran around in a panic as her lips burned up and throat being incinerated, all because of the orange spiked berry she ate.

It was a Tamato Berry…

" **HOT! HOT HOT HOT! HOTTT!** "

* * *

The training began after Bonnie extinguished the spiciness burning at her throat with a full canteen of water. Todd was seated against a tree with Deerling lying down at attention next to him. Bonnie and Dedenne were marching about like a couple of boot camp instructors while teaching them the basics of Pokemon battles.

"Okay!" exclaimed Bonnie like some sort of tough guy. "The first rule of Pokemon battling is you do not back off from a battle." All the while, each step told involved her staring right into Todd's face. The boy was getting startled each time she did that, wondering if having her as an instructor was even a good idea.

"The second rule of Pokemon battling is… you **do not** back off from a battle."

"Third rule of Pokemon battling: the battle's over."

"Fourth rule: Only two Pokemon to a battle, unless there's another Trainer in the opposite side, then you add one more to your squad."

"Fifth rule: A Pokemon shows its type, fight back with a type advantage, "And finally, seventh rule. Even with a type advantage, don't fall back! You take them on with full courage and care for your Pokemon!"

It was at the end of the final rule that Bonnie came forward to Todd and exclaimed with all her passion, but this caused Todd to get startled and fell back on the ground.

"Any questions?" When she turned around, Bonnie expected some response to her instructive lecturing. After hearing none of it, she looked behind to find Todd sprawled on the floor.

"Uh…? Bonnie?" Todd spoke up dizzily. "I'm… kinda spooked right now…"

"Deer…" Deerling was also seated down, shivering slightly at the tense situation. Bonnie sighed, knowing that how she was being helpful to him was anything but. It did show, however, that Todd and Deerling needed some work on their attitudes.

"You're right. Just saw that from a movie once. I thought it would be cool." admitted Bonnie. Her face then cringed, imagining Todd watching the movie in mind. "Then again, you… don't want to know what movie that was."

Choosing to forget what she had said, she needed a little more… child-friendly approach to the younger boy. Something that inspired her when she was younger. Bonnie easily came up with one little sentence that did the best when it came to inspiration.

"Anyways, basically what I would like to say is; don't give up until the end." She clenched her fist, flashing a confident smile at Todd. Her words came to give Todd a new feeling of courage inside of him, pushing him forward to embracing his own dreams. "Those were the words of the very Pokemon Trainer who inspired me to do what I dream to do, and he is getting close to achieving his dreams."

Afterwards, she then concluded her speech with a firm thumb's up to Todd and Deerling, signaling her own resolve to train the boy, at least with the few basics.

"And today. We're going to show you how to battle. For beginners of course."

"Cool!" Todd clasped his hands together afterwards, followed by a happy cheer from Deerling, who was also ready to learn from Bonnie.

"Okay. Since Deerling's not my Pokemon, my PokeDex cannot register the moves she can do. But it can still identify what moves she could learn. And based on what I read, it appears that she would learn three, if not four attacks."

Bonnie opened up her PokeDex and looked through the page on the Deerling species to read through the same section on possible Deerling moves.

"These moves are Tackle, Camouflage, Growl and Sand Attack. At least that's as far as she should know."

"Okay. So, how do I begin?" Todd skipped lightly as excitement filled inside him, ready to take the first steps in Pokemon training.

Bonnie ran all the way further from the group with Dedenne on top of her hat.

"First things first, to battle, you must first find a genuine opponent. And for this lesson, I shall be your opponent." She pointed to herself with her thumb before Dedenne leapt down on the ground.

"And for my Pokemon of the battle, you shall battle Dedenne." The little mouse Pokemon's cheeks sparked up to his whiskers.

"Okay." Todd stood up with Deerling at the ready, standing in battle position.

"Now, we go through this." resumed Bonnie. "I'll let Dedenne use low-powered attacks on Deerling, and you go all out."

"You ready, Deerling?" Todd told his Pokemon.

"Deer!" The Pokemon responded with a confident call. Dedenne stepped right up to face Deerling in battle.

The two sides stared each other down, ready for the training session that would help Deerling and Todd face those bullies and get their Great Ball back.

"Dedenne! Use Tackle!" Dedenne began with a quick charge towards Deerling. As he did so, he made sure to use as little power in his attack as he could for the sake of this course.

Nevertheless, Deerling, having been inexperienced in combat, took the move as serious as any Pokemon would in a real battle.

"Deerling, let's try and use Tackle too." Todd's first order came and Deerling followed up with a dash of her own, speeding towards Dedenne with all her strength.

As soon as Dedenne was in range, he jumped up and attempted to bash Deerling on the head. At once, he and Deerling collided into each other, heads banging at one another.

Suddenly, Dedenne could feel a sudden force pushing against him. He then realized that Deerling was able to put in much more power than he thought she would, enough to send him flying back to Bonnie and crashing onto the ground.

Bonnie and Todd both had their mouths wide open in shock. Clearly they did not anticipate such strength within Deerling. Wasn't she just hatched out of an Egg two weeks ago? This must be one heck of a baby Pokemon!

"Sheesh. Deerling's actually stronger than I thought." Bonnie remarked. Seeing this, she had to raise the bar a little. "Todd. Keep it up. Just let her battle on some more."

"Right." The boy was now a lot more confident after seeing Deerling's unexpected strength. He carried on with the battle, hoping to see more from the young Pokemon. "Deerling. Uh…" He took a brief second to remember the moves mentioned by Bonnie earlier. "Use Sand Attack!"

Deerling turned around so that her rear was facing Dedenne. She then kicked up the dirt underneath her and shot out sand at the opponent's face. Dedenne was hit by the attack, having his eyes stinging from the attack and forcing him to continue on blindly.

Todd did feel a little bad for Dedenne. That was such a dirty move he pulled off and he saw Deerling commit it. Though, he knew well enough that that was how it was supposed to be.

"Dedenne, use Thundershock!" Bonnie ordered.

Despite his blindness, Dedenne complied, doing his best to bounce up in the air and fire a bolt of electricity at his opponent. However, with his vision limited, the mouse fired blindly and was unaware that Deerling managed to jump out of the way in a panic for the bolt to hit the ground instead.

As she looked on, Bonnie saw that Todd was unsure on what to do to help Deerling get out of the way. He just stood there and watched, unsure on what to do. Deerling only leapt out of the way upon instinct; no word from Todd to dodge.

"That was close." Todd said to himself. Bonnie knew she had to give him some pointers on that moment.

"You might need to be careful when your Pokemon is about to get hit, Todd." She told from the other end of the field. "If your Pokemon is fast enough, then you can find the opportunity for them to run."

"Oh. Okay." Todd understood Bonnie's advice. Next time, he had to be more careful with his Deerling's

"Well, I'll give you points for blinding Dedenne with that Sand Attack." Bonnie mustered up a praising smile for his command, making the boy feel a little grateful that he was going the right path.

"Did that do any damage to Dedenne?" he asked.

"Nope. Sand Attack does not do any damage at all. It only reduces a Pokemon's accuracy, but only for a little while. So you have to think of something to take advantage of the handicap." The boy took in the advice again and immediately went to do more.

"Okay. Use Tackle again!" Todd commanded.

"Counter with Tackle too!" Bonnie followed up with a counter move.

Both Pokemon listened to their Trainers and ran for each other in another clash of strength. This time, Dedenne put in a little more power after he knew that Deerling could be strong enough to take a hit.

The two Pokemon crashed into each other in a rough collision again. This time, with Dedenne's increased power, the forces were now evenly matched. After a second later, the two were both beaten back, pushing them back to their Trainers.

"Not bad, Todd." complimented Bonnie. "Deerling's actually a strong Pokemon!"

"I know." agreed Todd. "I didn't know she had it in her." The boy continued on, getting more and more confident in his battling as Bonnie also went on to train him in this fight.

"Deerling, show them a Growl!" Todd prepared for the next move, calling for his Pokemon to deliver an intimidating and powerful yell to slow Dedenne's offensive power.

"Deer?" Then, as soon as he was expecting Deerling to use the move, she didn't. All the Pokemon did was look back at him with a muddled look, as if she did not know how to use it. It did say in the PokeDex that Deerling also that she should be able to perform the move at her age, didn't it?

"Huh? Nothing's happening?" Todd's expression said it all. No words could describe the confusion he was having in this situation; the inexperience of a boy too young to become a Trainer taking its toll on his determination.

Unaware of what had happened, Bonnie then smirked. It was time to play a little trick of hers. It was not as big as she would usually like, but for this training session, it would be decent enough.

"Dedenne. Nuzzle!"

Snickering with her, Dedenne ran right up to Deerling, who was still at a state of uncertainty. He ran up to her face and threw his back at her. At once, he started rubbing himself on her, instantly producing a spark that immediately turned into a powerful surge of electricity, shocking Deerling all over her.

"Oh no!" Todd shouted in horror as Deerling was being hurt by the attack. His confidence lowered down again, forced to watch his Pokemon getting hurt again.

Dedenne disengaged himself and returned to Bonnie's side, stopping the shocking effect and leaving Deerling in pain after the attack.

Deerling returned to standing position and faced Dedenne again, prepared to retaliate against him for pulling off that mischievous move.

"Deerling, you okay?" asked Todd, clearly shaken by the damage done and the weird absence of a Growl attack. However, there was no time for stalling.

"Todd. Make your move." reminded Bonnie. Todd snapped out of his trance and returned to the battle at hand.

"Okay Deerling! Use Tackle again!" Deerling steadied herself for another run at Dedenne, legs bent and body ready to pounce.

 **BBZZZTT!**

However, a sudden shocking feeling coursed through her legs, causing Deerling to fall down on the ground. Suddenly, she felt numb all over her body during the brief moments of shock, unable to move properly as she was stung by the effects.

"Wha-?" Once again, Todd could not understand what had transpired. He did not know what caused Deerling to stumble in pain. Was it the Nuzzle being that effective enough to cause it additional pain? Or was it something else?

"Deerling's paralyzed." explained Bonnie, confusing Todd more. "She's unable to move."

"Oh no…" At this point, Todd was feeling even more distressed. He was learning bit by bit, but the class itself was not being as pleasant as he thought.

Finally, after watching Deerling taking hit after hit, he just could not do anything to continue on, upset beyond belief.

Bonnie saw how the boy looked with the situation, seeing that he was now getting upset by how Deerling was now paralyzed and unable to move properly.

Seeing this, she knew she had to put a stop to the training session, having seen enough for the time being.

"Okay, Dedenne." She signaled to her Pokemon to stop the battle, to which he stopped the sparking on his cheeks. The two were finally finished teaching Todd, though the outcome was not what they hoped for.

She walked on over to a slightly depressed Todd. The boy soon saw that bonnie had decided to cut the battle short and was walking up to him. Realizing the battle was over, he walked over to Deerling and attempted to comfort her.

Stroking through her fur, he could feel the Pokemon shaking sporadically from the Paralysis it had sustained from Dedenne's Nuzzle, with small bumps of her body from the shocking effect.

Bonnie went over to her bag and looked for something to help out. It seemed like she really did have a whole assortment of items. It was courtesy of her brother, who was helpful enough to give her a kind of healing item each, always making sure his sister was prepared for the long road ahead.

But, it also meant that she was free to do whatever she wished with them all, and right now, a bottle of Paralyze Heal was just the thing she needed to wash the shock away from the body.

She walked towards the tired pair of boy and Pokemon, kneeling down and handing over the bottle to Todd. It was best if Todd was the one spraying the healing fluid on Deerling, since she was his Pokemon and being the person to do it would help improve the bond between Trainer and Pokemon.

"Here's a Paralyze Heal." she handed out the potion to him. "It should heal Deerling of her Paralysis." Without hesitation, the boy grabbed hold of the bottle and immediately pulled the trigger to release a fine cloud of the healing liquid, with fine particles pouring down on the soft fur.

A few more sprays with the Heal and the shaking finally stopped. Deerling could now rest easily, sleeping down while still panting from the distress and pain she did her best to endure for Todd.

The boy was let down by his inexperience. Losing your first battle was really not the best thing to experience, especially at such a young age.

"Darn it." he sighed. "Now, how am I supposed to get my Great Ball back?" His words of negativity brought sadness to his Pokemon as well. Deerling's ears flopped down in sorrow, feeling like she had failed Todd in this fight.

Bonnie, on the other hand, did feel a little weight on herself when watching Todd and Deerling go through this sad ordeal. After the way she battled, she felt like she went a little too much on the boy, even with a reduction of power in Dedenne's strikes. This sense of training towards the boy and his loss reminded her of her own first battle against Clemont just a day ago. How Todd got defeated from his own battle must had been exactly how she had felt before, and now, it seemed she knew Clemont's position of the mentoring.

Now, all she had to from here was to make sure Todd understands the meaning of loss to his advantage rather than taking it as a means to a horrible end.

"Don't worry, Todd." Todd looked up to see Bonnie knelt down next to him with a knowing smile. "Let's not get sad over this loss, okay?" She told the boy as sympathetic as she could, but Todd did not budge just yet.

"I know I should be trusting Deerling to battle for me, but I just can't bear to watch her get hurt." he said with a sad sniff.

Then, as he rubbed his eye, he felt something soft and slightly wet rubbing against his cheek. Opening his eyes, he saw Deerling having just licked him while letting him know that everything was going to be fine from here on out. She did not want her pain to affect his dreams of being a Pokemon Trainer, willing to fight for him until the very end.

At once, Todd could feel a bit of cheer thanks to Deerling's support for him. Perhaps it was for the best that Deerling could learn from its mistakes and fight harder to become stronger, but she was not the only one who needed to be strong.

"I guess I should learn to be a little stronger too, huh?" He hugged Deerling affectionately, rubbing their cheeks against one another.

"Now that's what a true Pokemon-Trainer bond is all about." Bonnie remarked to the relationship between the two young friends. Nothing made her happier than watching a Pokemon and its Trainer learning together and sharing their feelings together. Judging by how these two are able to cheer each other up with love from one another, they were well on their way. "Just keep rooting for each other and you both can come out of any battle."

While Todd was happy with Bonnie's praise, there was still something that puzzled him. The way Deerling became clueless with the command of Growl to be used. Instead of a simple low roar to disorientate her opponent, the Pokemon just could not do anything. It was not a refusal, however, but more of an unknowing, as in it was not within her knowledge.

"Still, why didn't Deerling use Growl like your PokeDex said she would?" wondered Todd loud enough for Bonnie to hear him. He hoped for Bonnie to at least have some information on this little detail.

The only response he got was Bonnie scratching her head with a really dumbfounded look on her face.

"I actually don't know. Your guess is as good as mine."

"What?! But you are a Pokemon Trainer, aren't you?" Todd yelped in disbelief at how a Pokemon Trainer did not have the knowledge he wanted.

"I said I was a Pokemon Trainer, but I didn't say I was a good one." scoffed Bonnie as she crossed her arms defensively.

"Then, how do you know how battling works? Your Dedenne is quite powerful!"

"Let's just say we had some first-hand experience before we officially began too." Bonnie said before returning to the topic at hand.

Both humans just could not find the definite answer to Deerling's inability to use Growl, but there could be only one reason as to why it has occurred.

"Do you think she hasn't learnt the move yet? After all, she just hatched from her egg." suggested Todd.

"That's a good guess." Bonnie snapped her fingers in agreement. Maybe it was the fact that Deerling was just too young to learn a move, and thus, was only down to three moves instead of four.

However, the lack of Growl in Deerling's move set was not going to deter Todd easily. His training may had hit a roadblock, but there was a lot of hope in Deerling's strength in battle. All she needed was sheer determination and the unexpected power she possessed, and she was good to go. Todd would do his best to direct his Pokemon and reach for the goal to return his prized possession from the bullies.

"You know what? Maybe we don't need a Growl or any other move just yet." declared Todd. "We can beat Raymond with or without it." With a fist in the air, Todd cheered on with Deerling. Bonnie and Dedenne smiled at their determination, having high hopes that they had done enough to help him overcome his lack of battle skills.

"Then, let's practice a few more before we go up to those guys!" declared Bonnie, willing to continue the training with Todd.

However, no one seemed to notice that Todd was still harboring some doubt in his mission, even if he was all battle-ready. Hiding a small worrying face, he sighed with a small dose of anxiety from his voice.

"I hope…"

* * *

 **A/N~ I've been meaning to make this chapter far longer, but I wanna try and see if I can deliver within a shorter word count than intended, so it doesn't really drag on for too long.**

 **But let me know if you'd like me to write longer, then I would try my best to keep on writing longer chapters.**

 **With that settled, let's go through the reviews.**

 **MerlockVonBaron** **– We'll see how the progression goes**

 **IICosmixII** **– And you are right about that! There will be several in the future and they'll obviously have different personalities. But there will be one that will definitely be very familiar.**

 **– Not sure if I can last that long for Dedenne to reach lvl 100 O.O He'll be strong, but do I want him to be THAT strong? We'll just see if we can get there**


	5. A Boy's Courage

**Chapter 5: A Boy's Courage**

 **A/N~ Internship's almost coming to an end, but that won't mean less weight on my schedule. So I apologize again for the delay, but I have already got four more fanfics in the works. I know some of the better writers always tend to focus on one or two stories at once, but I really want these ideas to be shared out to the public.**

 **Anyways, the next chapter is here! Time to get to work!**

* * *

Route 3,

Kalos,

3 AFC,

"Come on, Raymond!" A couple of cries of excitement and snobby joy sounded off from within the forest. They came from the same group of boys who messed around with poor Todd and Deerling, who were now gathered around at their new prize.

"Will you two just shut it?" The bigger boy snapped, clearly irritated by his cohorts' repeating pleas. Once the scene was now at peace, Raymond proceeded to boast about his new possession and pondered about the many Pokemon he would choose to catch either one of them with. "Now, what shall we catch today?"

"How about a Graveller?" suggested one of the boys.

"Or a Gurdurr?" added the other.

"I dunno about you, boys." Raymond proudly said as he put his hands to his hips. "But whatever strong Pokemon is out there, I will be sure to use this Great Ball to get me a winner!"

"Or maybe you should give it back to its rightful owner!" Right as they continued fantasizing, the three boys were alerted to the solemn call of an older girl coming from behind them.

At once, they all turned to see the pair of Bonnie, Dedenne, Todd and his Deerling, standing there. They looked at the troublesome trio with intent on doing some justice for their mischief.

Their own expressions towards the boys were quite mixed, despite the mutual goal of reuniting the stolen Great Ball to its real owner. While Bonnie was ever ready to stare down on the boys like she was the one doing the battling, Todd was still shaking to the bone. Inside, he was still reluctant to fight the bullies, and it certainly didn't help that all three of them were now staring at him. He was like a little Rattata in the gazes of an Ursaring and two Purugly.

"So, you came back to get your Great Ball?" Raymond tossed the Great Ball up and down, smirking wildly at the two. "Ooohhh, I'm scared." He bluffed his fears, joined in by snickers by the two other boys behind him.

Todd shivered at their unwavering attitudes, unsure if this little plan of Bonnie's would work.

"You… will give me back my Great Ball." He tried to sound brave at the faces of his bullies, but his nervousness was still quite obvious enough for them to pull off more insults.

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do? Cry me to death?" The boys continued to mock the little boy. With their ongoing laughter, Todd had to heighten his game.

He could not stand around like some dummy being tossed around by these bigger bullies. It was time to put his lessons to the test.

"I'm not kidding, Raymond." Todd gave the most serious face to the boys. It did surprise them a little, making Todd declare his stance. "I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!"

They just laughed. Todd tried to put up a show but they were not shaken one bit. Standing up to these guys was going to take a lot more fight than he liked.

"So, you wanna get beaten up again, huh?" threatened Raymond. Todd decided to remain as composed as he could, standing his ground.

"You're going to give back my Great Ball and leave me alone." he told Raymond again.

"So, you're serious?" Raymond squinted his eyes. Now, he realized that Todd meant business, watching the smaller boy stand up to him. "Well, if you really want to get beaten that badly, then I'll be happy to give you a taste of reality!" The cruel boy took out his Poke Ball.

Everyone knew what was Raymond's choice of Pokemon. He proved their guesses when he tossed his Poke Ball and summoned his slimy partner, Grimer.

"GRIMER!" The slime Pokemon grunted viciously at his would-be opponents.

Todd and Deerling shook back from the sight of the Pokemon who gave Deerling a lot of pain. Deerling may had been healed, but it could still feel the disgust of the slime oozing around her body and the memories of the poison draining her strength while stinging her from the inside were etched in her mind.

Despite the fear that Pokemon gave her, Deerling had to remain strong for her Trainer.

Todd, in turn, had to prove that he was going to become a worthy Trainer for Deerling. She was his Pokemon, whether he was a real Trainer or not, and he would do his best to watch over her and help her become stronger.

"Come on, Deerling. Let's get to work." Deerling nodded, walking forward to face her opponent.

"Well, look at this, guys." Raymond sneered at Todd. "The little baby wants to fight." The trio laughed out again.

Todd ignored the teasing, eager to getting his Great Ball back. He stood up and was ready to fight Raymond's Grimer no matter what it took. He was worried that Deerling would not be able to come out of this battle thanks to the type-advantage Grimer posed. Regardless, he had to fight to prove that he was able to battle against these boys.

This would be a fair battle between Todd and Raymond; Deerling against Grimer.

However, Raymond had other ideas.

"Okay, boys! Let your Pokemon out!"

The two underlings followed his command, taking out their Poke Balls and throwing them out. Two more Pokemon; a Loudred and a Sandile. Both menacing Pokemon put up an equally arrogant show of force, roaring fiercely at Todd and Deerling.

The boys all smirked and laughed wickedly at Todd, extremely satisfied by the fearful expression the boy was now having. Bonnie fumed in frustration, watching these three kids becoming all overpowered with their scheming attitude.

These kids were really asking for it now.

"Hah! Now try and take us on, little weenie! YEAH! We rule!" The gang cheered for themselves like they'd already win by a mile.

Todd was now beyond scared. He was now faced with three Pokemon to fight with. Was this even fair? He could not believe that Raymond would call on his friends to gang up on him like that.

"Hey! No fair!" screamed Bonnie. "You're taking on Todd three to one?! How is that fair?"

"Dedenne!" Her Pokemon sparked in anger as well.

"So what?" Raymond shrugged coolly, as if nothing was wrong with beating Todd in an unfair fight. "We teach losers on how battling really works!"

"Yeah! Back off, girl!" cried one of the boys, showing off his arrogance. "You can't tell us what to do 'cos you're a girl!"

"Sheesh, really _mature_ …" Bonnie shook her head, huffing out while watching these boys act like a bunch of little kids.

Wait… They _are_ little kids.

"So, you going to fight, loser?!" Raymond cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled at Todd, scaring the boy even more.

Realizing that they've gone too far, Bonnie needed to reduce the weight off from Todd so he could fight Raymond without the cheating brats getting in the way. She saw Todd slowly losing his confidence while Deerling just looked at his Trainer worringly. They were starting to become even less prepared for the battle they needed to have.

Flicking the rim of her hat, she stood alongside Todd, slightly surprising him and the gang in front of her, and clenched her fist.

"If you want really want to prove that girls can't fight, then you two will have to battle me!" She pointed her finger fiercely at the two boys standing at Raymond's sides.

While they were initially taken aback, their snarky attitudes took over again, laughing hard at Bonnie for even challenging them to a battle.

"Bonnie?" Todd muttered under his breath, still frightened to fight Raymond on his own while also touched by Bonnie's offer to help.

"You have to face Raymond fair and square. So, if these bozos really think that overpowering you is going to teach you a lesson, they're wrong." She looked down at Todd with full support for his upcoming battle. "And I'm going to show them a thing or two."

"But… I dunno if I can…" Todd stuttered.

Bonnie held Todd's shoulder, assuring him that he had what it took to fight Raymond while she stalled for time.

"Trust me, Todd." she told the boy. "You're ready." She gave him her signature toothy grin and a thumbs up to send him off to the battle.

Todd nodded. Finally, he was able to muster enough courage for himself and Deerling to face their opponents.

The three bullies were making sulky and mooching faces at the two the whole time, laughing again once Bonnie and Todd turned over to face them.

"Oh great! We can beat this girl and be even better!" The two boys simultaneously cheered, causing Bonnie to cringe in annoyance.

"So, you really think you'll come out like a bunch of men?" Bonnie taunted. "You boys would pass for wimps!"

For the first time, the boys were now feeling insulted by Bonnie's own taunt. Frowning angrily at her, they were really riled up to prove their point.

"Why that little…" Even with their frustration fueled, Bonnie kept on teasing them, hoping to make sure that they would face her while Todd and Deerling faced off against Raymond and his Grimer.

"Come on, boys. I'm waiting for my battle." One more taunt and the boys were now sure to had taken the bait.

"We'll show you a battle!" The overconfident boys shouted in a wild cry. Bonnie grinned at their acceptance to battle her. Raymond, on the other hand, did not care less. She could go get humiliated all she wanted. He had his own victim to deal with.

Bonnie and the two boys soon left, following the girl to another location. Bonnie gave Todd a supportive nod and smile to wish him luck. Todd smiled back.

As Bonnie, the boys and their Pokemon disappeared into the forest, that left Todd and Raymond to themselves, facing each other. Raymond still grinned victoriously, confident that he was going to win. Todd, now full of spirit, was as ready as he would ever be.

For his Great Ball, he would do his best to win it back and make sure Raymond would never bother him again.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bonnie was already on the offensive, ready to battle the other boys. All the time she was walking, they had constantly thrown insults at her from behind her. She did not respond, but she was really ready to show them wat it really meant to be the strongest.

Facing them from the other side, she picked through her pocket and pulled out her Poke Ball. Since it was obvious that the two were not going to fight fairly, they would go for having both of their Pokemon fight together. It was natural that she would have to use her only other Pokemon to fight the Loudred and Sandile present as her obstacles.

"Come on, girl!" The first boy smack-talked at her.

"Yeah! Or why don't you go back home and do some girly stuff!" the other boy teased.

That was it. Bonnie was now beyond disgusted by how immature these two sounded like. Well, it was time to show them how much they had to learn about girls.

She looked at Pidgey's Poke Ball, wondering if she would be able to best the Loudred and Sandile with her own team. She analysed the selection of her opponents' Pokemon. She then took out her PokeDex for some more details on them. The device read out the data as she read them up, oblivious to the two boys' complete irritancy of her studious action.

" _Loudred, the Big Voice Pokemon._ _Loudred shouts while stamping its feet. After it finishes shouting, this Pokémon becomes incapable of hearing anything for a while. This is considered to be a weak point._ "

" _Sandile, the Desert Croc Pokemon._ _It moves along below the sand's surface, except for its nose and eyes. A dark membrane shields its eyes from the sun._ "

From the analysis, she memorized the details. She was facing both a Normal-type and a Ground-and-Dark type. Her Dedenne would fare very badly against Sandile, but her Pidgey could have the advantage for its ease of avoiding Ground-Type moves.

The Loudred was probably a more general threat, considering its Normal-type status, but its loudmouth could mean some very strong moves.

Overall, these two Pokemon seemed quite formidable, with attitudes to match.

Bonnie, however, remained undeterred. If there's one thing she knew about battling, it didn't matter what type would have the advantage, but it would be the pure determination and bond between Trainer and Pokemon which would take you much further.

"Okay, Pidgey." She flicked her ponytail before facing her opponents again. She then swung her arm forward and summoned her Pidgey. "Come on out!"

The bird Pokemon emerged from the bolt of light and appeared all ready for battle. Dedenne followed suit and jumped alongside it to face their enemy.

The boys laughed at Bonnie's choices of battlers while their Pokemon looked very eager to do harm to these midgets of Pokemon.

"What a girl!" The first boy laughed out loud. "Choosing wee little Pokemon to battle us."

"Time to clobber them down, Carl!" The other boy slammed his fist together with his palm. Their Pokemon growled to show the little tykes at their opposite that they were going to hunt them down like the rats they are.

Dedenne and Pidgey were not afraid, just like their Trainer. Her last battle with a Trainer did not go so well, but then again, that was her own brother. Of course she had to lose to him because he was an experienced Gym Leader.

These two boys. They were going down.

"Sandile! Use Bite on Dedenne!"

"DILE!" The first move went to Sandile. The crocodile Pokemon charged right for Dedenne as ordered, catching Bonnie and her Pokemon by surprise. Luckily, Bonnie called for Dedenne to move just in time.

"Dodge it!" Bonnie cried out, prompting Dedenne to leap out of the way before the Sandile clamped its jaws shut, barely missing him. Bonnie shot back at the two Trainers with anger boiling inside; cheeks flushing red and pouting out.

"Hey! Haven't you heard of ladies first?!" she screamed.

"Ladies first my foot, girly!" ranted the first boy named Carl. "Loudred, Echoed Voice!"

The loud Pokemon thrust its arms backwards as it let out an ear-shattering roar which sent massive soundwaves emitting from out of its mouth and ears. The extremely loud calls roared all across the battlefield, directed at Dedenne and Pidgey. The two were instantly pinned by the incredibly disorientating attack while also feeling their bodies feeling a sudden spike of pain which propelled them back.

Bonnie also had her ears shut, but she was appalled to see that her Pokemon were being hurt by the attack.

While the two Pokemon were down, Bonnie had to quickly respond. As soon as the Echoed Voice died down, she called out to Dedenne first.

"Dedenne, use your Thundershock on Loudred!" She then turned to Pidgey. "And Pidgey, hit Sandile with a Tackle!"

Dedenne charged up his whiskers and fired up a strong electric strike at the Loudred while Pidgey followed up with the flapping of its wings before rushing forward in a swift swoop towards Sandile.

Dedenne's Thundershock was able to hit Loudred head on. Pidgey was then within striking distance before lowering its head to bash Sandile back. The crocodile Pokemon flipped back and landed safely while Loudred took the electric shock head on like a tank, unfazed by the attack.

"Hah! That's it?!" Carl called out. "Loudred, counter with Pound on Pidgey!"

"You too, Sandile!" Conner, the other boy, ordered his Sandile to assist Loudred. "Bite that Dedenne up!"

The two Pokemon simultaneously launched themselves forward to attack Bonnie's Pokemon. Loudred jumped high in the air with incredible ease, almost right above the bird Pokemon itself! Sandile crept low and forward, surging fast towards Dedenne and opening up its jaws.

Unfortuantely, Bonnie could not react on time. Pidgey was soon caught beneath the heavy feet of the Loudred and was then stomped onto the ground with such driving force. Dedenne was also caught in the jaws of the Sandile, clamping down hard on him.

"Oh no!" Bonnie called out to her Pokemon, but was unable to get them back into shape. This was starting to get really ugly. For Bonnie, it would suck to lose not only her second Trainer battle and her first Double Battle, but also to a bunch of immature punks.

"Hehehe! Look at that!" Speaking of the two boys, Carl completely let his joy out by laughing hard. "Just as a girl would fight like!"

"What a loser! I bet Magikarp fight better than her!" Conner added.

Then, deep within Bonnie, her fire was starting to heat up again. She was really determined to get the win she needed against these boys. She just needed to know how. Dedenne was being bitten down by a Ground-Type Pokemon, so his Electric attacks were of no use. Pidgey on the other hand was a lightweight compared to the heavier Loudred. Getting it off of him was going to take a miracle.

She had to think… and fast. There was no telling how much longer her Pokemon could take in being clamped up in or stomped on by her opponents.

"Come on, Bonnie. What would Ash do?" She thought hard and quickly, thinking of a way for her Pokemon to break free.

Then, she looked at Dedenne, who was still getting hurt from the jaws crushing him. She had something to try. It was risky, but it might just work.

"Dedenne!" She reached her voice out to Dedenne. The little Pokemon did his best to listen amidst the pain. "I know this sounds weird, but I need you to use Nuzzle!"

Dedenne listened to his Trainer. He then tried to rub himself against the jaws of Sandile and emitted a shocking effect on Sandile. However, being a Ground-Type, the crocodile Pokemon was left unaffected by the attack, still shutting its jaws onto Dedenne.

Conner watched in delightfully at the futile attempt by Dedenne to attack Sandile. He could not believe what Bonnie was trying to do in what he thought was pure desperation.

That was when he was wrong…

Apparently, Dedenne was still using Nuzzle on and on that, little did they know, Sandile was starting to feel very strange. Suddenly, the Pokemon could feel the roof of his mouth tensing up in a ticklish feeling. The fur of Dedenne rubbed against the sensitive roof that Sandile couldn't but itch uncontrollably. Eventually, he had no choice but to spit Dedenne out.

The mouse Pokemon was thrown into the air like a ping pong ball and landed safely on the ground, much to Bonnie's delight.

"What the?!" Conner could not believe his eyes. The little critter did not use Nuzzle to shock Sandile, but to tickle him from inside his mouth?! That was foul, even for him! He watched as Sandile coughed up the small strands of fur stuck in its mouth while scratching the roof of its mouth with its tongue.

Bonnie then turned her attention towards her Pidgey, who was free from Loudred's bone-crushing weight. It was still flat on the ground, with its body feeling pressed down. The bird Pokemon slowly picked up from its feet and looked at the Loudred about to strike again.

"Loudred!" shouted Carl. "Stomp it down again!"

"Pidgey, fly out of there!"

As Loudred came close to jumping up and squashing Pidgey again, the bird Pokemon did its best to rise up from its condition. It flapped its wings with all its might, withstanding the pain and flew clumsily away from the two thick feet, barely escaping the tons of Loudred muscle that came crashing into the ground to form a crater after striking the same place twice.

Pidgey returned to Bonnie and gathered with Dedenne to recuperate. Bonnie gritted her teeth and crossed her arms together in a crossed expression. She looked at the opposing Pokemon again, who returned to their Trainers too. Bonnie pondered on with her fingers twitching and her mind itching for a new strategy.

She had to break through with these clowns somehow, even if her Pokemon had been struck hard.

A toothy grin formed, showing off her resolve to gain one for the road; a victory against two Pokemon Trainers at once, no matter the superior strengths of their Pokemon.

"You boys can keep this up all you want!" She folded her arm and balled a fist at the two boys. "We can do this all day! Right, guys?"

Bonnie's Pokemon looked back at her. They may had taken some punch from their opponents, shaking slightly from their pain. It was their inner fire, however, that still burned brightly and helping them to ignore the sharp bruises and aching muscles they had suffered.

"Dene!"

"Pidge!"

"That's right! Happy Bonnie's ready to go!" the girl cheered, using her old signature nickname.

'Happy Bonnie'. She has not been using that catchphrase since her younger days, although this time, she now expressed with pure burning passion instead of the cutesy skipping jumps of joy, replacing that with a thrown fist into the air.

She tried using other names before to see if they could take the word 'Happy' away. None of them seemed to work, though, as they did not feel… definitive for her. Thus, she ended up sticking to the word that defined her personality.

"Whatever, girly!" scoffed Carl.

"You're going down!" added Conner, leering at Bonnie with overconfidence. Bonnie caught on with their smug looks and acted to one them up. She nodded to her two Pokemon and they were ready for more.

"Dedenne, Pidgey. Let's roll!"

* * *

The battle between Todd and Raymond was under way. The two boys stared each other down. Todd was still in a state of anxiety, having to face the ruffian who stole the gift his brother gave him.

He loved his brother so dearly. All the memories they shared, all the fun times they had. He would not trade them for the world. That Great Ball, in someone else's hands, was the one treasure he would never give away to anyone.

Now that his brother was on his own Pokemon journey in a faraway land, Todd would cherish that Great Ball as the one thing he could remember his brother by. And he was going to get it back today!

Raymond was looking down at Todd like some Machamp over a Tyrogue, anticipating an easy win from the younger boy who was not even a Trainer in the first place. He was going to make this little punk wish he didn't challenge him. There was no way he could lose to a little kid. The odds of losing were not even implanted in his mind at all.

His Pokemon could not feel any more different from its Trainer. Grimer was just as arrogant as its Trainer was. A Deerling would be no match for a powerful Poison-Type such as itself.

Todd had to reclaim his gift of his brother's love, while Raymond was sure that he would have nothing to lose simply because he **wouldn't**.

Two different people with different motives, battling for the same prize.

"Deerling, use Tackle!"

The battle began with the Season Pokemon running towards Grimer with all of its strength. Putting into mind what she had learnt from her training with Dedenne, Deerling took its posture into form, running in a straight line while aiming its sights on Grimer.

"Pfft!" Raymond wiped his mouth smugly. "Grimer, throw Sludge at Deerling! Show them what it means to mess with us twice!"

There was just no remorse in his command. No regrets on threatening Deerling. Grimer, like its Trainer, was just as merciless in obeying Raymond's command without question. In fact, it also felt satisfaction in punishing Deerling with its poisonous attacks.

The slimy Pokemon let a huge blob of its goo slowly drop from its arm until it was big enough to be thrown. It then swung the blob like a trebuchet and catapulted the projectile in a long swing of its arm.

The incoming slime was about to hit Deerling and Raymond was sure this battle was as good as done. Deerling would have to face the repercussions again.

Then, without warning, Deerling saw the blob coming her way and sidestepped as she ran, allowing the Sludge to fly through her without as much as a stain on her elegant fur.

She then came into contact with Grimer and finished up with the strongest amount of retaliation she could give it, slamming the Pokemon head on and sending him dragging back to its Trainer.

The move surprised the boys. Todd, for one, was quite astonished by how much power Deerling had in that single strike. Raymond, on the other hand, just could not believe the Deerling managed to hurt Grimer; as in, hitting it physically, like she was actually able to do it. He was so sure that he would end the battle just like that. Turned out, he had a nasty taste of loss to snap him out of his arrogance for a while.

Deerling leapt back to her friend. She had a few spots of Grimer's sludge on her fur from the impact of the Tackle, but it was nothing too harmful. Though right now, it could use a bath after this battle.

For the first time since coming across these bullies, Todd could finally smile. He watched as Deerling huffed out with her nose, showing her Trainer that she was ready to go again. Todd faced Raymond with a slightly more confident stare. Now, he was going to try out some more and he would do his best to guide Deerling with what little knowledge he had from Bonnie.

Raymond remained firm. Okay, so one strike was what he got in the end, but Deerling was going to get lucky the second time.

"Grimer! Use Mud-Slap!"

Like with Sludge before, Grimer collected enough slime in its arm until it was strong enough to be swung at. But instead of a throw, Grimer used that slime by creeping towards Deerling and attempting to hit her with a repulsive slap to the face.

Deerling saw this one coming as well, but had to wait on Todd to deliver the next command.

"Uh…" Todd thought hard again, but could not think of a move fast enough. "Dodge it!" In the end, Deerling had to jump away. Luckily, Grimer's attack missed her with the deer Pokemon skipping away again.

"Again!" Raymond ordered Grimer to repeat its attack. It swung, but Deerling dodged the move again. Then, Grimer moved to strike again, and again. It went on for a few round while Deerling hopped about avoiding each contact with the arm.

Suddenly, there was not enough for it to move past one strike. Having been tired out, Deerling stumbled and allowed one slap to hit her in the face, throwing her off.

"Deerling!" Todd screamed in horror as his Pokemon was once again met with a dirty move by the Grimer.

Raymond snickered from afar, enjoying the scene with no mercy. He smiled, just watching Deerling take the hit he always wanted her to be knocked out from. However, another surprise forced him to wait a little longer.

Deerling was flung back by the slap, but miraculously, she saved herself from falling to her side and landed roughly on her feet, slightly dragging across the grass as she came to a stop.

She managed to land safely, giving Todd some time to breathe some relief out. However, she had sustained a lot of damage from that one strike. It began to feel weak like she did before; more slime staining on her fur and the attack taking a toll on her strength.

For Todd, she had to get back up and fight on. The pain still strained her muscles and the dirt making her fur get tangled up uncomfortably. Nevertheless, she still wanted to do more and she was standing by for Todd's next command.

Todd readied up for another run, but he was caught off guard by another run by Raymond and his Grimer.

"Grimer! Acid!" shouted Raymond. The Pokemon then spat a lime green spit ball which headed straight for Deerling.

"Deerling! Dodge!" Deerling rushed out of the way just as called for. The acid bombs landed right where Deerling was standing and splashed all over the dirt. Deerling moved out of the way to watch the acid burn through the dirt to form a bubbly crater until the fluid melted away, leaving off a sizzling sound with a very thin trail of smoke from the burning.

Todd had to play on the defence, as Bonnie once instructed him to do.

"Deerling, try out a Sand-Attack!" Todd called out to Deerling. The Season Pokemon turned her rear to face Grimer. Then, with her hind legs, she kicked up a blinding gush of sand at the Pokemon. Small, fine bits of sand and dirt hit the Pokemon's eyes, hindering its ability to see properly.

Todd hoped that the Sand Attack bought him more time to stay on the battlefield a bit more, even if it was just for a little bit.

The bully at the other side didn't really care if there was a deduction to his Grimer's accuracy. He was still going to pulverize this kid and his little Pokemon, and keep the Great Ball all to himself.

"Grimer! One more Sludge!" Grimer fired another sludge ball at Deerling. Deerling jumped out of the way easily, but it would not find it that way for long.

"Keep doing it 'till that Deerling's down!" Out of a sense of mischief, Raymond decided to bend the rules of the game and rapidly suppress Deerling by having Grimer throw more sludge balls., not giving Deerling any time or space to make her own move.

Deerling locked on to the numerous blobs coming her way and sprung up and down, side to side, avoiding them as best as she could.

Grimer flung more Sludge, ball after ball, all towards Deerling. She was now faced with countless slime balls raging right for her, and all she could do was jump around without being able to strike back herself. They came so fast that she could not find the right moment to break away and attack.

Todd's fists gripped harder and harder, getting anxious from his Deerling's troubling situation and wanting to do something to break her free from the ongoing attacks.

Unfortunately, his hopes were dashed when a lone Sludge ball finally did its job and hit Deerling and sent the poor Pokemon down to the ground.

"Deerling!" Todd cried out, tears falling out from seeing Deerling in pain again. The Pokemon was lying on the ground and now slimed on by an attack that was highly effective against her, which meant a lot of hurt.

More smirks came from the devilish duo who were now laughing at the young pair. They were weak and completely worthless to them. They could be easily beaten down by such awesome moves and they did not think it was overkill. It was superiority.

Deerling stood up, much weaker than she was before, but still defiant to help her Trainer defeat these bunch of irritating bullies and win back his brother's gift. She understood the love between the two siblings, even if she hadn't met the older one.

She would what it took to help Todd win and become a great Trainer in the future.

Todd saw his Pokemon just rising up even if she was under agonizing stress and harm. There was no way she would give up for him, so he had to believe in himself to help her get stronger too.

"You sure you can go on, Deerling?"

"Deer!" A firm nod by the Pokemon was all Todd needed to carry on the fight. They faced their opponents, ready to battle again.

"You kids don't learn!" Raymond shouted at the resilient duo. With Todd insisting on fighting, it kept getting better and better for him. He thought Todd was crazy to battle him one on one, but he had to admit, he had the guts to get back up and still do it without any intentions on giving up. Maybe he needed a little more punishment to make this kid really scared. Perhaps more bite from Grimer would do the trick.

* * *

Bonnie was watching her Dedenne and Pidgey fight it out against the Sandile and Loudred. Dedenne was jumping around, narrowly slipping through the jaws of the hungry Sandile, while Pidgey was soaring over and under Loudred's nauseating soundwaves.

Carl and Conner were simply enjoying watching Bonnie's Pokemon dodge all of their attacks without a single move against them.

They would think that Bonnie was about to break down, as any girl would. It was a delight to see her stuck and at a loss, leaving their Pokemon to eventually finish them off once they were tired out.

However, Bonnie was far from giving up. She was standing there, finger to her chin and pondering about the battle and how she would have to do to gain an advantage over the opponent.

Other than just using moves on them, there had to be another way to even the odds. She thought back to what the PokeDex read about Sandile and Loudred, finding any info that could be useful in breaking the attack pattern from the Pokemon attacking hers.

The words spoken by the PokeDex echoed in her head, helping her to remember the biographic details of the species, and what might be of use against them.

"Okay." She began recollecting. "Sandile's a crocodile Pokemon who digs underneath the sand and has a shady patch…" She shook her head after the last bit once she decided that that was out of the question. "And then, there's Loudred, who yells and yells. Obviously…"

Then, just as she was diving deeper into her thought, she was on to something. An idea came to mind when further information was envisioned in her head. The desperate and frantic feeling inside of her was gone. There was only…

Excitement and a chance for victory!

~ _Loudred can't hear anything if it shouts. So, if I can make it yell to the fullest, then I can deafen it up long enough for my Pokemon to make a strike!_ ~ Luckily, what she said was only in her head, or the boys would had definitely catch up to her.

She set her sights on Loudred and saw that it was no longer shouting out attacks at Pidgey, simply staring at it and possibly building up power for its next attack.

This was the chance Bonnie was waiting for. If Loudred would be unable to attack while its hearing was out, it would be smooth sailing from there.

There was only one problem.

Sandile.

While it had no known weaknesses she could exploit, Bonnie had to find some way to hold that Pokemon from assisting its partner. Maybe she would have to assign one of Pokemon to distract it while the other would take on Loudred and make it unable to hear anything.

She hoped for Dedenne to perform this move with extreme caution. It has to be exactly right. One wrong move and it was over for the little mouse.

Bonnie had to remain quiet, though. She did not want those two boys to overhear anything that she had in mind, so she had to act quickly while letting her plans go discreet from them.

"Pidgey!" She began her plan, calling her bird Pokemon who, after dashing away from a strike from Loudred's fat fist, turned its head at its Trainer. "Keep Sandile distracted with your Tackle attacks. Make sure it doesn't get Dedenne."

Pidgey raised an eyebrow, unsure what scheme its Trainer was cooking up. Nonetheless, it had to trust her. She helped him out once before, so a second time could be just as successful. It made a move and flew away from Loudred, changing its focus on the ground Pokemon.

Sandile was busy trying to get Dedenne clamped within its jaws and chew him up, but the nimble Pokemon proved to be a difficult meal. Dedenne did not forget the blistering pain he felt when caught in Sandile's gripping teeth and so made sure he did not have to go through the ordeal a second time. He jumped away and slid right through the gaping jaws of the Sandile. However, time was running out as he was starting to lose energy to dodge more.

Thankfully, help was on the way when Pidgey flew by and knocked Sandile off. The crocodile Pokemon rolled to its side from the impact of the Tackle attack, leaving just enough time for Dedenne to catch his breath and thank Pidgey for the assistance.

"Okay, Dedenne!" Bonnie called for her faithful starter next. "You have to make Loudred shout all the way at you." Dedenne blinked confusedly upon hearing Bonnie's command. Why would she want her opponent to keep attacking him? Especially with such painful screams that could blow up anyone's ears? "Just trust me. You must dodge its shouting attacks until I give the word to stop."

Dedenne nodded, choosing to listen to Bonnie's command. He looked to Sandile and saw that Pidgey was already engaged in combat with it. He was now sure that his partner had the situation under control and was safe to pursue Loudred, going with Bonnie's plan to force Loudred to unleash its full force of yelling.

Carl saw the little mouse running towards his Pokemon. As soon as Dedenne faced it, he thought this was going to be another easy round, and perhaps the final blow. He did hear that Bonnie switch up the Pokemon, but simply passed it off as another useless move of utter desperation.

Loudred gave an intimidating growl at Dedenne once it came into conflict with him. And that gave Dedenne enough reason to provoke it as planned, sticking out his tongue and pulling down his lower eyelid. The trick worked. Loudred soon began roaring in anger, eager to clobber Dedenne for his insulting behaviour.

"Pound that rat, Loudred!"

The Big Voice Pokemon jumped up in the air and dropped down on top of Dedenne. The mouse panicked and jumped out of the way, safely avoiding the thrashing titan of a Pokemon from squashing him down.

When he got out of the way, Dedenne panted in relief, but with the odds stacked against him, there was not much of a chance that he could take much more.

"Come on, Dedenne! You can do it! Get him to yell!" Bonnie thought that at this point that her plan would be quite obvious by now. Luckily, those boys just didn't do anything to act against her. For now, all she could hope for was that Loudred would unleash its powerful voice until it could shout or even hear no more.

While Loudred went on with its rampage, Bonnie returned her attention to her Pidgey. The bird Pokemon was under attack by multiple Bites as Sandile tried to munch it up and win. Being a Flying-type definitely had its advantages. Pidgey was high enough to avoid the Ground-type's moves, easily hovering above and watching Sandile miss every single bite while also making sure that when the crocodile Pokemon was high enough, it had to fly a little higher to dodge.

"Pidgey! Use Peck!" Once Sandile landed on the ground, Pidgey acted immediately and swooped down to give its opponent a nice peck on the head, pinning it down before flying back up. Sandile fell on its belly for a little while, its head reeling in pain from the strike.

"Ugh!" Conner gasped as his Pokemon took the blow. "Get back up and use Leer!"

Sandile looked up in the air and glared a powerful stare that caused its eyes to glow red. When Pidgey saw this, it felt its nerves tense up tremendously into a cold scare. The bird was stunned by the immense chill in its body and began to fall a little bit to the ground. It managed to pick himself up and narrowly saved itself from crashing.

The Leer attack still proved effective in weakening Pidgey's defence, slightly spooked at the appearance of Sandile.

"Don't let up, Pidgey! Just keep that Sandile at bay while Dedenne handles Loudred!" Bonnie was putting in all her faith in her Pokemon to carry out her plan. By doing so, she hoped to make this work.

Pidgey was struggling to maintain its course, flying slower than usual due to the stress it had suffered so far, along with the intimidating glare Sandile threw at it. There was no stopping its determination, however. Bonnie had proven herself capable of training it so far, so it could let her take charge and give her strategy a shot, moving to relentlessly keep Sandile distracted from Dedenne.

Back to Dedenne, Bonnie watched as Loudred kept bouncing up and down, hoping to flatten the scurrying Dedenne down to size. She would need a little boost to tempt her opponent into giving it all it could. She could try and poke fun at its Trainer to coax him into ordering it, but she knew that, at least for now, it would not make herself any better than the bullies she was fighting for Todd.

So instead, she had another idea.

"Dedenne! Use Thundershock on Loudred. Full power!"

At his Trainer's command, Dedenne let the electricity in his body charge up all the way before letting loose a Thundershock powerful enough to knock Loudred back. The shock hit it right in the face, causing some hurt. Loudred closed its eyes from the blinding flash of the attack while also withstanding the painful shock.

The sudden strike to its face was enough to agitate the Pokemon. Its teeth gritted hard from its growing anger and it roared furiously, shocking everyone, even its own Trainer.

Carl then grinned with satisfaction. The little mouse was done for now.

"Oh, you're in for it now, girlie!" Carl snickered before he thrust his index finger straight towards Loudred to give his Pokemon the attack that should end the match with a bang.

A very loud one.

"Loudred! Full ECHOED VOICE!"

" _Gotcha!_ " At the right moment Bonnie hoped for, Loudred could not agree more with its Trainer and let loose a powerful yell that shattered the ground around him. The powerful soundwave came Dedenne's way, causing him to jump away from the blast.

Loudred kept on yelling as Dedenne repeatedly ran and leapt away from the continuous power of Loudred's yelling. The power of the shouts was felt with rage doubled thanks to his sneaky little taunt. Dedenne did not know what Bonnie was thinking when she wanted Loudred to let out its voice to the fullest, but he had to put his trust in her and proceeded to dodge the attacks for as long as he could.

The loud-mouthed Pokemon saw Dedenne shifting away, causing it to turn around while shouting. The soundwaves moved following the fleeing mouse Pokemon as he ran for his dear life. When he could not run anymore, he took a slight catch of breath before resuming, barely missing the incoming soundwaves.

The process kept on repeating itself for a while; Loudred still screamed at the top of its lungs while Dedenne dodged the incoming blasts. The event was so deafening that the Trainers, and the other two Pokemon, were forced to shield their ears from the extremely loud screams.

With poor timing, however, Dedenne was starting to lose speed from fatigue by too much running. The soundwaves got louder and stronger as they came closer to him. Dedenne was cursing mentally, wishing that he did not agree to do this.

"Huh?"

But then, just when he thought it would be over, he felt… almost nothing. He opened his eyes and found that, after such a tiring run, he was still in one piece. There was still some force left, but it only blew at his face. He turned his head from side to side, wondering what the heck had happened.

He then looked towards the Loudred who nearly blasted him for good. It was now panting heavily from such an outburst. Dedenne could have sworn that he saw some sweat drops on his head, but its worn out expression as more than enough to prove its own fatigue.

Carl sighed in pity for his Pokemon. Maybe he went a little too excessive with his orders and now he had to wait for his Loudred to recover a bit. Conner volunteered to take over for his teammate.

"Pidgey, use Peck on Sandile!" But before anything could be done, Bonnie acted first, ordering Pidgey to knock Sandile with its beak with the same amount of damage done earlier. With Sandile distracted, Bonnie was left with one thing on her mind.

Now, her eyes were all on Dedenne. This was the time for her strategy to be put to the test. She put all her hopes on her beloved Pokemon and he did his job. Now, only time would tell whether she pulled it off.

"Time to see if my plan worked. Dedenne! Use Thundershock on Loudred."

" **DEDE NNEEE!** " The mouse shot another bolt of electricity at Loudred. The jolting energy stream zapped its way to and hit its forehead in an unpleasant shock. After that, Loudred was already steaming inside from another hit to the head, enticing it to fuel itself up with anger.

"Hah! That's it? That all you got?!" Carl laughed out cockily. "Loudred, show 'em a Pound attack!"

Carl watched in glee, casting a smirk on his face. The thought of Loudred going savage again was all he needed to let out another command to end this fight.

"Grrr…"

There was nothing. Not a single move from Loudred other than a menacing stare at Dedenne. Carl was now at a state of confusion. He did call out to him in a very clear voice, not to mention loud too. Why was nothing done?

"Loudred! Use Pound!" He called out to Loudred again, but there was still no response from the Pokemon. Now, this was far from confusing. It was getting really annoying. He stomped his foot to the ground. Although he did it to try and get his Pokemon's attention, there was obviously some anger that needed to come out.

Yet still, even that was not enough to stir its Pokemon out of its ignorant state.

Bonnie could see from Loudred's lack of response and Carl's building anger from her side of the field. Immediately, she couldn't help herself but jumped for joy. Not only did her plan work, but how it was done was just perfect. She could not be any happier that a plan of hers had worked out, especially since she was mostly cut off from any planning during her previous journey with her brother because of her 'immature' behaviour. And now, she got to it on her own and she was successful, earning the Trainer satisfaction in her attempt.

She could just win this battle. Now, all she had to do was follow up while Loudred had to go through a few moments of silence. It was really time to hit home.

"Dedenne! Help out Pidgey!"

Dedenne acknowledged and followed Bonnie's order. He was sure that he could finally feel good about this fight, considering now that he had Loudred temporarily out of order for a while, and with Pidgey by his side, Sandile would be a breeze.

"Loudred!" Carl was still trying to call his Pokemon to do something. however, all that Loudred did was look back at its Trainer with a baffled face, considering how long it had been since its last order. Its irresponsive mishap made Carl fall a lot more impatient each passing second.

"Dude! What's up with your Loudred?" Conner called from his side, briefly taking his time off from Sandile to get his partner back in the game.

"I don't know!" Carl winced in frustration. "It's not doing anything."

"Then, get it to do something! Those two pipsqueaks are at my Sandile!" Conner pointed out towards the field furiously.

"Okay, Pidgey! Use Peck again!"

The two boys looked to the battlefield where Sandile was now struggling to beat back two Pokemon at the same time. Meanwhile, Loudred was still immobile, unsure of what to do at this point. Should it keep waiting for its Trainer to do something, or should it just help Sandile out regardless?

"I'm trying!" Even so, Carl was at a loss. His Loudred was just standing idly away from the battle, unavailable to do anything and Sandile was currently being beaten back.

Then, Sandile was being knocked back by a striking Peck to its belly by Pidgey. Conner had to act quickly. This battle was starting to become a mess and the boys were feeling the anxiety overwhelming them, especially when they realized that they were being beaten by a girl.

"Let's get this over with!" Bonnie cried with joy. "Pidgey, Dedenne. Both of you charge at him with a Tackle and Pound combo!"

"Quick, Sandile! Bite them!" ordered Conner in a hurried tone.

The three Pokemon all took in their Trainers' commands and charged right for each other; Dedenne running across the ground and Pidgey darting from the air against Sandile running towards them with its jaws opened up for the feast.

When they came into contact, Sandile prepared to bite down on its opponents together. Unfortunately, the odds were easily against it. Pidgey struck first, head-butting the crocodile Pokemon on its own stomach. And to top it off, Dedenne also followed up with one bash of its back towards the stomach.

The combined force of Pidgey and Dedenne caused a series of crushing pain, throwing Sandile away to the ground to lie on its back. All of its limbs, tail and head eventually slumped to the ground. It laid there, bruised and battered, unable to get up.

However, it was still not out of the fight, since its eyes were closed shut rather than the swirly patterns that would signal its fainted condition. It was still hurt pretty bad, though.

Conner watched in utter disbelief as he saw his Pokemon get double-teamed by two low-levelled Pokemon, grabbing his hair with intent on pulling it all out from pure rage.

Carl was just as baffled after seeing his partner defeated in battle by a girl of all people. He was now at a loss with Conner's Sandile down on the ground and his Loudred still unable to do anything.

Bonnie snuck a small grin watching the boys struggle to comprehend what had happened. This is what happens when you underestimate a Pokemon Trainer, no matter what they look like, what Pokemon they have or even what they are. You can never be sure what kind of surprises could be in store for your competition, and Bonnie took it on with confidence and support for her Pokemon.

"And now for the finish." She collected herself from Sandile and focused on Loudred. The Pokemon appeared to still be handicapped by its inability to hear its Trainer. Carl stomped his foot in frustration from what was happening in front of him, and Bonnie could not help but a tad bit sorry for him. Then again, he was being a jerk, so karma was an evil menace right now.

"Loudred, just… do something!" The boy could not take it anymore, shouting out in desperation again. Alas, nothing was working with the confused Loudred now feeling a little fearful of its Trainer's mood swing.

With her hand balled into a fist, the blonde Trainer punched right out to give the last word to end the battle.

"Pidgey, give one last Peck attack!"

Pidgey complied, aiming its beak at the confused Loudred and swooped down towards its target. With one powerful thrust, the bird Pokemon poked the loud mouth with full force, sending it thrown back all the way. It then landed towards one very unfortunate crocodile. Sandile could hardly move as it saw its partner being tossed at it until it was too late to even move a muscle.

The larger Pokemon crashed into Sandile, pinning both Pokemon down and making them more unfit to fight anymore.

"Dedenne. Wrap it up with a Thundershock!"

No matter what, a Pokemon battle had to be finished fair and square, just as Bonie hoped to show these arrogant boys.

Dedenne nodded, charging himself up for that last attack. Finally, he unleashed another burst of electricity that went straight for Loudred. Before both Pokemon and Trainer could react, the pileup of Loudred and Sandile took the hit and both were simultaneously zapped into a frenzy of powerful shockwaves vigorously vibrating throughout their bodies.

When all was said and done, an explosion from the blast roared throughout the field, echoing into the forest while scaring off a few bird Pokemon.

From the smoke, the outcome was already clear. The two Pokemon's eyes were now swirling as they both fainted. It was finally over for them.

"We did it." Bonnie muttered silently to herself, but when excitement of her victory came, she couldn't help but jump for joy, fists rising in the air. "We did it!"

The girl leapt up and down a few times before seeing that her Pokemon were just as jubilant about the victory. They both felt very accomplished with their battle as they helped Bonnie take her very first win.

She bent down to hug both Pokemon, but in their own excitement, they simply ran or flew for Bonnie and crashed into her. They were enveloped in a joyous embrace, with the Pokemon snuggling up to their Trainer proud and satisfied. Fortunately, Dedenne only rubbed his forehead against Bonnie, causing no such spark that could trigger a very shocking sensation.

"I knew you could do it." Bonnie buried her face in between the two Pokemon's bodies as they too returned her hug.

Once they separated, they looked over to see the stunned faces of the two boys she just defeated. She could see the rejected looks on their faces, mouths and eyes wide open and their gazes fixed on the fallen Pokemon.

"Wh- What?" Carl could barely utter a word, devastated beyond belief. Conner was no better. Both boys could feel the humiliation seep right in; their pride apparently washed away by the outcome. All was going so well, or so they thought, but of all the people in the world to beat them, it was a girl. A girl!

"How… did we lose… to _her_?!" Conner finally yelled out in a state of loss and denial, refusing to believe that Bonnie defeated him in battle.

Bonnie stood back up after hugging her Pokemon. She knew she had to teach them a lesson and finally show them that you could never underestimate a Pokemon Trainer, no matter who or what they are. However, before she could say anything, the two boys quickly withdrew their Pokemon back into their Pokeballs, stuffing them in their pockets. They gave Bonnie one deadly glare each on her. Bonnie and her Pokemon were slightly spooked by their stares, inching back to prepare for what they would do.

"You're going to pay for this!" Carl bawled at the girl.

"Yeah! Who knew girls could cheat too?!" Conner followed up with a very insulting yell.

They both turned around and made a run for it. It looked to Bonnie that the boys had been ashamed by their loss to her, making them more of jerks to her than before. They weren't so tough, after all, she thought. But she could not help but feel offended by their sore loser attitudes through their insulting calls at her.

"Ugh! What a bunch of losers." She shook her head, tensing her body in annoyance after their rude exits. Nevertheless, all that mattered was that she won her first Trainer Battle, and she did so showing those boys what a girl like her could do.

With the boys were out of her sights, Bonnie could finally relax after the thrill of her battle with the so-called tough boys. She took her Poke Ball from her pocket and pointed it at Pidgey, giving the Pokemon a well-earned rest.

"Pidgey, return!" The ball zapped forward in a red bolt and sucked Pidgey back inside. The Pokemon was now inside the capsule which Bonnie turned to look at it, thanking Pidgey for the fun battle. "You did awesome, Pidgey. Get some rest."

She put the Poke Ball back in her pocket. Now, there was a new worry for Bonnie. With the two boys defeated, there was just one more to deal with. All concerns were now on the young boy who was battling the bully.

"Come on, Dedenne." Bonnie prepared to move, calling Dedenne so that the little Pokemon could return to the top of her fedora. After Dedenne did hop on top, the blonde girl was well on her way to check on their inexperienced friend. "We gotta get to Todd. I hope he's doing okay."

"Dene."

* * *

Deerling was battling all she could. Her devotion to helping Todd had pushed her this far into battling a Pokemon with a type advantage over her.

The slimy Grimer, however, did not give a darn about her perseverance. It shared its Trainer's lust for victory over those weaker than it. It made two more slime balls and after Raymond gave the order, Grimer flung the gooey slime at Deerling yet again.

Deerling managed to dodge the slime balls again, hopping over each one with growing ease.

Todd could feel the satisfaction of watching his Pokemon dramatically getting the experience of fighting every minute of taking on Grimer. The boy too felt like he was learning something new from every successful move and dodge. The pair, young and inexperienced in the world of Pokemon battling, were actually starting to become competent in their first pre-emptive battle.

Conversely, Raymond's temper was starting to reach its boiling point, frustrated that a mere Deerling was able to last this long on the field of battle. He wanted to put this kid in his place, and he really wanted to do it swiftly.

"Grimer! Get in close!" Raymond decided to unleash his one trick that could really bring the pain.

Todd and Deerling watched as Grimer slimed its way as fast as it could. It rushed in a zig-zag path, shifting positions here and there. Deerling had to turn her head from side to side and the motion was so fast that she could not find time to react to its arrival.

"Shoot out a Poison Gas attack!"

Grimer breathed in as much as it could and with one blow of its breath. From out of its mouth, a purple cloud of smog fumed out. It came with such fast speed that Deerling was unable to avoid the toxic catastrophe.

The cloud shrouded around her like a phantom in the night, surrounding her whole body in a thick smog. Todd could barely see Deerling slightly opaque within that cloud. And that was when the trouble was about to begin.

The hazardous gas was already entering Deerling's nose. The smell was so nauseous and revolting that Deerling could just faint instantly from it. She naturally choked up from the irritating itching in her throat. The trouble, though, was only beginning…

Then, it happened. When the fog faded, Deerling started to feel numb on the inside. Her legs began to shake weakly and she was losing all feeling on them as well. Without any control of her legs, she stumbled around clumsily. Soon, the worst came once she felt a nasty pain in her body. The poison in her body did its job in weakening and hurting her as time went by.

"Deerling?" Todd was watching it all over again. Deerling was once again in a state of agony and unsettling pain all courtesy of the Grimer who took pleasure on making her suffer as it did before. "Oh no!" Todd saw in horror that Deerling was slowly losing her will to fight as the poison once again took its toll on her body.

Raymond let out a smirk with satisfaction and no remorse in his heart. He had what he wanted; Deerling hit and now being weakened by the same dreadful poison it had suffered from before. Thus, he was able to gain his victory against the seemingly useless kid opposite of him.

The kid won't be needing his Great Ball anymore. He could use it all he wanted and no crybaby was going to beg for it anymore.

"You're done for now, Todd." bragged Raymond. "You're such an idiot if you think that little Deerling of yours can beat my Grimer!"

Todd could not stand to watch anymore; his fears becoming even more real than before. This was why he did not want to battle in the first place. He was now helpless to do anything about his Pokemon's pain as the rules dictated. So, heartbreak was all that he could take as Deerling stumbled.

"No…" His heart sank to sadness; tears were beginning to flow from his eyes as he faced the ground. The boy was hitting himself inside harder and harder, hoping to break away from the sorrow of seeing his Pokemon hurt to her greatest.

He was on the verge of giving up, wanting to end this fight and help his Pokemon. There was no point prolonging her suffering by staying there defenseless. He could always forfeit and allow the Great Ball to be in the hands of Raymond. No prize was worth getting when his friend was in trouble.

"Deer…" Todd looked up at the faint and weak sound of Deerling's cry.

The Pokemon was still shaking from the pain it had sustained. Her legs were about to give way and her body was getting closer to the ground looking ready to pass out. She was in a very sorry state. Close to fainting, she would probably end up fainting at any moment, ending her battle to the more powerful Grimer. She would have to accept a second loss to a Pokemon that clearly had the advantage over her.

That was all what Todd thought; that Deerling would have to stop the fight.

However, that was when he realized that Deerling, despite her struggle to stand up, refused to go down at all. Todd could see it in her eyes. Her resolve to keep on going, no matter how much it hurts, was present in her endurance of the agonizing poison. Was she really that determined to help him all the way, even at such a low state of health? Was she willing to do whatever it took to see that her Trainer, her friend, had achieved his goal?

Todd took it all in. He was now seeing Deerling in a new light. She was not just any cute Grass-Type Pokemon who loved to frolic about in the beauty of nature. She was a fighter, eager to listen to her Trainer all the way and making sure the battles they face were fought hard and with victories they could be happy with.

And as her Trainer, he felt that he must do his best to train his Pokemon to be the very best, even if he wasn't officially a Trainer at all. He needed to be at her side as she did him. It was the Pokemon-Trainer bond Bonnie had always told him about.

This was it. The faith between Trainer and Pokemon. The spirit to battle and become stronger than ever before.

The drive… to keep moving forward.

"No." He silently spoke from under his breath. Raymond heard the boy say it, expecting it to be a sign of despair. He made sure to sneak a grin at Todd's apparent sadness. This victory was as good as his.

But that was not to be the case.

"We can't give up. I won't give up!" Suddenly, in an unexpected twist, Todd stomped his foot down and gave a loud confident yell at Raymond. The bully only put up a look less than surprised, but caught off guard by the youngster's yell.

Todd's determination came out like a burning fire, with his sad frown turned into a defiant one. His eye brows furrowed the other way, now looking very serious with the situation. He was not about to just give up now.

"Deerling, if you're sure you can fight on, then I will too!" he called.

Deerling nodded, still trembling, but surely willing to continue the fight. She did her best to stand up and face Grimer on.

Raymond and the Grimer were both not so amused, seeing Deerling rising up as a sign of delusion and hopelessness. Todd was just being another lousy excuse for a battler. And he said Raymond was the bad kid. Just look at what he's doing to his own Pokemon.

Deerling prepared herself to make another move. When she did, she let her energy course through, ignoring the stinging and nauseous feeling in her body. She still looked quite weak from the poison in her body, eyes slightly squinting and limbs shaking.

She then closed her eyes, calmly letting herself be at peace. She stayed that way until eventually, she could feel the rays of the sun heat up her body, shining brightly down on the ground around her.

"Wha-?" Then, as Todd watched on, he then noticed something going on with Deerling.

He stared in awe as a green light began to surround her. The gleaming aura shone all around her with sparkles blinking here and there, particles of green light entering her body.

After some time, the light continued to seep into Deerling. In a miraculous turn of events, Deerling was no longer shaking from the pain from her condition. Instead, she rose back up straight, feeling all better! As she shook her head to get rid of the nausea, she turned to face her opponent again.

Raymond and Grimer could not believe their eyes. They thought that had this in the bag, that they had already sealed the Pokemon's fate. Nope. She just stood back up and looked as if she was never hit at all.

Of course, the one person who was beyond jubilant was none other than Todd. His heart now raced with renewed hope and excitement. His Pokemon was now all better and once again ready to fight, bringing more cheers to the boy. Now, he had a chance to turn things around. maybe this battle wasn't lost after all!

"Deerling! You're okay!" Todd felt like he could just run over and give Deerling a big hug. He had been that worried about her health and was about to give it his all even during times of pain. He

"I guess you underestimated me, Raymond." Todd looked back at his opponent, with a smile of confidence now back. The bully was unfazed by this lucky break in Todd's part, but Todd's sudden quirkiness was getting very annoying to him. It did not matter to him if Todd was back in full shape. He was only delaying the inevitable. It was only a matter of time before he would end up the same way.

Todd took the words Bonnie lectured him with to heart, remembering how important it was for a bond between Trainer and Pokemon could take it to new levels. Deerling certainly felt stronger, and now, so did Todd.

He wished he said a few courageous words against Raymond right now, but he could not think of anything. Hey, he was only a little kid, not some experienced war veteran. He did have the heart of one, though.

Enough was enough. This bullying had to stop. He was going to get his Great Ball back.

"You thought I was about to lose it all. But not this time!" Todd clenched his fists and Deerling bent down ready for her Trainer's command.

"Deerling! Let's give it all we got!" The Pokemon nodded firmly in agreement. "Give Grimer one more taste of your Tackle attack!"

With new fire in her heart, Deerling raced forward and charged towards Grimer in full speed.

"Grimer! Use your Sludge Attack!" Raymond panicked at the sight of the speeding Season Pokemon running towards his own. The slimy Pokemon made another disgusting blob of goo in its hand and slung it at Deerling.

With her regained strength, she dodged the attack with minimal effort. She zigzagged as each Sludge thrown at her was ditched aside each second passed. Once she got close, she gave the Poison-type a nice bash of the head to its chest, sending it splattered away back. Deerling hopped back fast enough before more of the icky slime all over Grimer's body would affect her again.

She dragged backwards towards Todd. Grimer stopped reeling as well, with both Pokemon staring down on each other again.

Deerling's Trainer was getting anxious again. Despite his burst of confidence, he knew that a battle against a Poison-type was going to end up in terrible consequences. The move Deerling did to recover her health was beyond his understanding.

Worse still, he saw that Deerling, even when back at full strength, was still being stung from the inside. The poison she had taken from Grimer was still inside her body and was affecting her progressively, slowly weakening her bit by bit.

Todd knew he had to finish this battle. So, he looked around, finding a way to change things up a bit.

Through his eyes, a patch of bushes was seen on his right. Thinking a bit more, he had something in mind.

"Deerling, blind Grimer with another Sand-Attack." he ordered.

Deerling heeded her Trainer's call and kicked up more sand at the Pokemon, blinding it again. While Grimer was unable to see, flailing about in a panic, Todd saw his chance. he wasn't a hundred percent sure this would work, but it was worth a try.

"Okay, Deerling. I want you to go hide in that bush." He cupped his hand to his mouth to make sure he called out to Deerling without Raymond hearing him out since he was distracted by his Grimer being blinded.

He then pointed out to the very bush he saw earlier. Deerling looked and complied. She made her move and ran for the vegetation and hide there.

During her rush, Raymond quickly saw Deerling moving away. Thinking that this was another Tackle run, he turned to his Grimer and gave the word, even while the Pokemon was still having sand in its eyes.

"Grimer!" He ignorantly called upon his Pokemon. "Deerling's running off! Use Sludge again!"

Unfortunately, Grimer was still too hindered to even have a good sight on Deerling. Soon, the thought of being blindsided by its opponent forced the Pokemon to aimlessly obey its Trainer's command without even looking. It clumsily threw sludge balls here and there, culminating in a shower of stray blobs which flew all over the place.

Deerling spotted a few of them coming around at her in all places. She did her best to speed through the barrage, avoiding each one with graceful endurance.

Todd and Raymond were both in a pickle as well, shifting from side to side dodging the slimy projectiles. Raymond, in particular, was getting very frustrated by his Pokemon's apparent clumsiness. He was getting brash by thinking the sand would easily ooze away from a Grimer's eyes, but it was not that simple.

"Grimer! TCH!" He called out in an ill-tempered tone, barely avoiding a slime ball. "Hit that stupid Deerling! Not me!" Grimer still wouldn't listen. Its loss of sight was getting the better of its focus as it continued to fling Sludge balls everywhere. "You worthless-! DRGH!"

If only Todd wasn't so busy avoiding the Sludge, he could have heard the lack of faith Raymond had in his Pokemon. He would have been disgusted by how the bully was treating his Pokemon like some tool not worth using.

Like how he treated him…

It wasn't long before Raymond cursed out some insulting words at Grimer. Lucky for Todd, he couldn't hear some of the words that were too… vulgar.

Eventually, the bully got what he deserved.

 **BLAWK!**

A large slime ball came right from above and splattered all over his face, sending him crashing down on the ground in a muffled groan.

Finally, a minute had passed. Grimer had managed to run out of energy after its flurries of Sludge balls. Soon, it regained its vision, able to see the big mess it had made. It then turned to face its Trainer, much to its utter shock when it saw the strict look on the boy's face, along with a few stains of gunk on his body and clothes.

"Grimer! Look what you did!" screamed Raymond. Grimer hid its face away after looking at the Trainer's unfortunate mud bath, fearing retaliation from the rude boy. "You got your slime all over me!"

It appeared Raymond was so busy dodging the slime and cursing out so much; not to mention the icky slime hitting his face, that he forgot about Deerling. Now, the Season Pokemon was nowhere to be seen.

Raymond and Grimer checked the whole area, desperately searching for that lousy Pokemon. Little did they know that during Grimer's state of panic, the Pokemon had successfully hidden herself in the bush Todd told her to hide in.

Then, Todd saw his moment. He bided his time before Grimer eventually turned away from the bush and left itself vulnerable to any form of attack coming from behind it. He thought that a strike from behind could give Deerling the edge to score a more critical hit on the Pokemon, and hoped that if successful would be enough to end this fight for good.

It's now or never… It was time to get his brother's present back!

"Now, Deerling!" From out of nowhere, Deerling emerged from the bush and leapt in the air. Grimer and Raymond shot their heads up to see the deer Pokemon high above them, but when Grimer did so, it was blasted by the flashing light of the burning Sun behind Deerling, silhouetting her whole body with the rays of the bright Sun shining right into the Poison-type's eyes.

"Let's do it. Tackle!" With his command, Deerling dived right for Grimer, aiming her two front feet at the alarmed Pokemon and coming down like a bomb threatening to destroy its target. It looked more like a Body Slam than any Tackle as she fell sharply towards Grimer.

"Quick, Grimer!" Raymond yelled. "Stop it with a Sludge! Do it, you stupid Pokemon!"

Grimer wanted to react, but the light was too bright for it to look for Deerling. There was nothing else it could possibly do with the Sun burning its eyes; add that with the bits of sand still stuck in them and Grimer was more than handicapped at this point.

It was just what Deerling needed to rain down hard on the Pokemon without worrying about the disgusting slime it poised to throw at her. With the blitzing path to plummeting Grimer down being unopposed, Deerling made no stop, going all the way to make sure her two feet strike the sliming filth who tried to do her in.

She let out a mighty cry, charging down and crashed down on the Grimer with as much force as she could use. The two disappeared in a cloud of dust after Deerling slammed into Grimer, which blew upwards and completely enveloping the two into the blackish brown cloud.

The two Trainers watched from their respective sides, eagerly waiting for the results of their uphill battle. They stared into the dust with different feelings from one another. Todd clasped his hands together, holding onto his hopes for Deerling's condition for dear life and worried for whatever might had happened to her. Raymond, on the other hand, was greatly anticipating his Grimer's victory over the defence against Deerling's weak attack. Despite the brief moment of tense moments by Todd and his Deerling against Grimer, he was still very sure that Grimer was strong enough to withstand such a meagre force of power by a tiny Pokemon. Both weighed in heavily on this one blow, with either side hoping to see either one of the Pokemon still standing.

Finally, as the cloud of dust cleared off, the outcome of the battle was revealed.

"Oh my gosh…" Todd had his mouth wide open from what he saw from his Deerling. He couldn't keep his eyes away from spectacle that he was gazing at which astounded him immensely. What happened was truly extraordinary to him; something he couldn't believe had happened.

Deerling was standing on all four legs, bending forward at Grimer. The Poison Pokemon was all melted down with a pair of swirly eyes and mouth agape.

"I… won?" Todd was still stunned by his unexpected victory. Then, after a few seconds, the boy felt a sudden surge of excitement and joy coming upwards through his body. The excitement was more than enough to make him jump up in the air, filled with much cheer and accomplishment.

He had won his very first Pokemon battle!

"I won! Yeah!" He punched up as he leapt from the ground. Hearing her Trainer's voice, Deerling turned around from her opponent and ran towards Todd with a big smile on her face.

Both friends embraced each other in a big hug; Todd grabbing Deerling around the neck in the gentle exchange while they both rubbed each other's heads.

"I can't believe we did it." Todd's voice was muffled underneath Deerling's fur.

"Deerling!" The Pokemon affectionately stroked her Trainer's head with her own.

Meanwhile, the defeated Trainer on the other side was feeling the exact opposite of what Todd and Deerling were.

Raymond slumped down. Anger and humiliation were all that he had in his heart. He was up against a little kid, smaller and weaker than him, who used a Pokemon that was so vulnerable to his own Grimer. He thought… No. He **knew** he was going to win.

That confidence was all for naught. His shame fueled his disbelief as he punched the ground in total fury. He lost to a stupid kid and his stupid Pokemon. That was all he could think off, just the fact he lost this battle to Todd and his Deerling.

Without any thought, he silently returned his Grimer back, mentally cursing at it for its failure of dealing with a Pokemon that was supposed to be weaker than it. His fists squeezed tightly as his frustration built up. Disbelief was still high in his mind from the impossible outcome he had to face.

He looked at the happy duo of victors who shouldn't have won the battle at all. Of all the people he's battled, he had to lose… to **him**! A little kid. No one dared to take him on like that and won, and all of a sudden there's a boy tinier than him who won with a Deerling of all Pokemon. Just imagine how his friends would think of him that he was defeated by Todd.

Todd did not deserve this win. Raymond had to teach him the reality of how things don't work that way. He had to slap some sense to him…

Literally…

"You punk!" Todd and Deerling stopped their loving exchange to find a crossed Raymond stomping towards them, crackling his fists. Todd was instantly terrified by this approach, covering himself with his arms. Deerling stepped out at front, willing to defend Todd, no matter what happened. Raymond was crossing the line by threatening to hurt both of them on his own.

 **BZZT!**

Suddenly, a lightning bolt fazed through and hit the ground between Raymond and the two youngsters, stopping the bully and spooking out the rest.

"Stop right there, Raymond!" The confrontation was joined in by another duo of victorious battlers who decided to stop Raymond from doing any harm. Raymond gritted his teeth, further angered by the timely intervention of Bonnie and Dedenne coming from the trees. He even groaned from seeing that the boys he sent to beat her were nowhere to be found.

Once Bonnie got everyone's attention, she came over to tend to Todd and Deerling, backing them up even if she knew from afar that Deerling had beaten Grimer. She was indeed proud of them for handling their first battle in a hard-earned victory and went over to pat the boy at the back for a job well done. Dedenne also congratulated Deerling for her persistent performance against a Pokemon that was strong against her and won. Facing Raymond, Bonnie crossed her arms and put up a victorious grin at Raymond.

"Your boys have left. And they thought they could beat a _girl_ like me." She then twiddled her index finger while her smile grew wider. "They were wrong."

"Dene!"

Bonnie then frowned at Raymond with a serious gaze, making sure that she had Todd's side should Raymond try anything stupid. Dedenne had the same idea, scurrying over to assist Deerling in defending the young kid.

"You see, Raymond?" Bonnie called out to the stunned bully. "No matter how big or small, strong or weak, or boy or girl, you shouldn't underestimate the bond between a Pokemon and its Trainer."

Raymond viewed Bonnie's words like some ridiculous childish nonsense, as if Bonnie had not stopped watching those lousy kids shows on TV.

"That's stupid stuff! What does friendship have to do with getting stronger?" urged the bully, sticking out a tongue in disgust and voice filled with sarcasm. "You don't get strong through _feelings_ and _love~_ BLECH!"

There was nothing he wanted to do. He had to face the facts; he was all alone now. His only Pokemon was knocked out and fighting against two energized Pokemon was going to get him nowhere.

But there was one little thing he **could** get away with. In his pocket was the little trinket he managed to snatch away from Todd. The Great Ball was something he would at least walk away with from his humiliating battle with the boy.

However, he was not really willing to keep it a secret, clearly sour from his loss when he attempted a very taunting gesture at Todd. He grabbed the Great Ball from his pocket and started teasing the boy with such childish insults.

"And just for that, I'm keeping your little Great Ball! 'Cos you're still too young and you don't deserve, pipsqueak!"

The evil smirk on Raymond's face was really starting to hurt Todd, like a knife stabbed right to the heart. Raymond could have the right mind to respectfully surrender the item back to him. Unfortunately, Raymond appeared to be even more of a jerk than he let on.

However, among all of them, one was getting very, **very** irritated by the immature act.

"Dedenne…" A very crossed Bonnie, one eye twitching, called her Pokemon over. "Do 'enlighten' him of the errors of his ways…"

Getting Bonnie's hint, Dedenne charged up his whiskers and gave Raymond a nasty surprise to teach him a lesson.

"DE DEDENE!"

 **BBZZZTT!**

"WARRGHHH!"

A raging thunderbolt, at least as far as Dedenne could muster, struck Raymond and made the boy dance in a blitzing frenzy of jolting shock. The electricity surged all around him, making his body shake like crazy. Unable to withstand the power of the shock, Raymond dropped the Great Ball on the ground, letting the shock continue until there was no more.

Raymond was left with a burnt body all around, soot covering almost everywhere on him. The boy was now out of words to even retaliate. There was just too much pain and shame inside of him to even bother. It was not worth fighting back.

"Just take it! I don't need this stupid thing anyway!" he bellowed in anger.

And just like that, he darted off into the distance, too ashamed to even look back. The Great Ball rolled away towards the group behind.

As he disappeared, the gang left behind took the opportunity to grab hold of Todd's prized possession. The boy inched closer to the Great Ball and picked it back up.

He took another glance at the one thing he treasured the most and was so close on losing it forever to the wrong hands. He was so delighted to be reunited with his brother's gift that he could just hug the capsule for hours, not wanting to separate himself from it ever again.

Deerling felt very happy for her Trainer's joy. She came over and stroked her head against his hip, causing the boy to share the happiness with her and hugging her back.

"I dunno how the fight really went, but you must have been awesome, Todd!" Bonnie complimented the young boy. She was indeed amazed by how Todd was able to win a battle even with his inexperience being his prime handicap. She started to wonder if she too would have been just as great in battle during her younger days. Why didn't she like ask Ash to help her with some small pint-sized training sessions like she did with Todd? But knowing it was for the best, she didn't really complain. At least she was now officially a Pokemon Trainer, and that's what mattered. "So, do you mind telling me how you pulled it off?"

"I…d-dunno." A confused Todd answered, unsure of what to make of his miraculous comeback with Deerling. "I just stood there, encouraging myself to pull through… and then all of a sudden, Deerling just made some light all over her. Then, she was actually feeling better! That was so cool!"

Bonnie nodded in understanding. wanting to know more about Deerling's new ability as well.

"Really?" she asked. "How is that?"

"Maybe it's a new move?" suggested Todd. "All I know is that she did it under the sunlight."

"Hmmm…" Bonnie soon pulled out her PokeDex to scroll for any healing moves of Todd's description. There were several, but there had to be one that hit the mark, but based on what Todd said about sunlight being the factor, she found her answer. "Wait! Here it is!"

" _Synthesis is a move which allows a Pokemon to heal itself based on time and weather of day. At bright sunlight, it can be healed with half of its strength."_

"Todd." "Your Deerling just did… Synthesis." That was it! A healing move which Deerling could somehow use to regain its strength after a nasty fall. And since it was a nice, sunny day, Deerling was able to heal up to almost perfect shape. That would have also explained why Deerling could not have known how to use Growl as what the PokeDex told her.

"She did?" Todd stared in awe at his Pokemon, awed by the amazing ability Deerling was able to use. "She did!" Just one thing…

"Uh… what is Synthesis?" the boy asked.

"It's a move when a Pokemon restores its health based on the weather. And since it's bright today, the Sun helped heal her up to its greatest extent." Bonnie explained while Todd understood what was taught to him. However, the girl could not fathom about a little detail she found quite nonsensical. "But that's… impossible."

"What do you mean?" Todd clearly had to ask again, wondering made Bonnie so baffled by Deerling's healing power. She was actually looking more of this Synthesis move from Deerling's move list.

"Deerling can't learn Synthesis." Much to her confusion, the move was not listed among all possible moves, making the discovery all the more puzzling.

"Seriously?" Todd was surprised. If Deerling can't learn the move, then how the heck did she used the Sun as a means to recover from such a terrible attack?

"At least, according to the PokeDex." There had to be a reasonable explanation behind Deerling's ability to use Synthesis. Bonnie had to dig deeper into the mystery. "Hang on." She pressed more of the buttons on the PokeDex, bringing together how one could teach a Deerling how to use this otherwise unteachable move.

She once again found an answer to the case.

" _Deerling can learn Synthesis when one hatches from an Egg and must be under the care of a Trainer to learn the move. It is one of Deerling's Egg Moves_."

"Egg Moves, huh?" Bonnie looked on in awe, fascinated by what she learned from the device. She definitely had a lot more to learn than what she originally thought she did before.

Suddenly, the happy mood was shifted when Deerling was seen stumbling down on the ground, winching in apparent pain. Everyone rushed to help her from her fall, worried for her health.

"Deerling!" Todd held her up, calmly wrapping his arms around her. "Are you alright?"

"Deer~" The Pokemon weakly replied.

"Your Deerling just needs some more medical treatment." Bonnie could see the purple blush on Deerling's snout, instantly telling her of the problem. She went to grab her backpack, zipping it open and pulling out something of use. "Ah! Another Antidote."

She took the potion with her and handed it over to Todd and let him do the healing this time. Perhaps it would be one way to further strengthen their bond if the Trainer himself did the treatment himself and cure the sick Pokemon with a much deserved Antidote.

"Here you go, Deerling!" Todd proceeded to spray the antidote on all over Deerling's body. The Pokemon felt the soothing spritzing of the potion pour down on her fur and wait for the peaceful moments when she would finally be rid of the poison in her body.

"Geez, Clemont." Bonnie placed her hand to her hip while she said to herself, thinking of the brother who could never be too prepared. "You really outdid yourself, didn't you?"

* * *

After the battle was over, the group of friends decided it was time to head back to Todd's home. It was by time the boy returned home before his mother could swoon in a panic so he could have a nice little dinner and give Deerling something sweet as a reward for her victory.

Bonnie, on the other hand, had to be the bearer of bad news. Her journey was still calling out to her and it was by time she had to head to Santalune City to participate in her first Gym Battle against Viola.

That meant the two groups had to part ways. It was sad that Bonnie had to go, since Todd had learnt so much in just a few hours, but he understood that she had a dream to fulfil.

They arrived in front of Todd's house, which was a lone cabin in the middle of the forest, indicating a simple life in the country for the boy and his Pokemon. On the way back, Bonnie began telling her story of how she also began to understand the works of Pokemon training from her brother.

"When I was your age, I only cared for Dedenne. He was actually my brother's Pokemon. But once I was ready to venture out, Dedenne automatically became my starter."

Todd felt like he was looking at a professional, even if Bonnie had only just begun. Not only was she an early learner with an earlier head start, her brother also happened to be a Gym Leader too. She was certainly an individual worth respecting.

"Cool…" Todd gasp in amazement. Once they looked towards the cabin, Todd knew he had to walk right in before his mother would start to get extremely worried.

"I guess I should head home now." He rubbed the back of his head. as he announced. "Mom must be worried about us right now."

"Deerling!" agreed Deerling, excitedly barking for her upcoming dinner.

Bonnie nodded, acknowledging that the two had to go inside so she could move on with her next step towards her first Pokemon Gym battle. The two extended their hands forward towards each other, joining them together in a handshake.

"In that case…" cheered Bonnie. "Bonnie wishes you all the best in the future!"

"Dedenne!" added Dedenne on top of Bonnie's hat.

"You too, Bonnie." said Todd. Once they were done talking, the boy brought with him his Deerling and walked towards the house. Then, Todd turned around to face Bonnie with one final goodbye. "Someday, I'm going to be just like you!"

"Mmhmm!" A flush of red tinted on Bonnie's cheeks, holding onto her face. It felt so good being admired like an idol, and she would love to hear more from others. The more people cheering her on, the more of a Master she would feel like. "I'm flattered!"

Finally, time to go for Bonnie and Dedenne. The pair turned away from the house and walked on, resuming their path to becoming a Pokemon Master. "Goodbye, Todd! Deerling!" She waved back at Todd and Deerling, bidding goodbye.

"Dene!" Dedenne waved both of his arms at the duo.

"Bye! Thanks for your help!" thanked Todd.

"Deerling!" Deerling jumped once with a bark back to the blonde girl's Pokemon. They waved on until the older pair disappeared from their sights. Afterwards, the boy stroked his Deerling on the head before calling her to come with him into the house, ending the rough but fruitful day.

He would always remember to value Bonnie's training and put his skills to use as he would continue to train Deerling until he was at the right age to finally venture off on his own. It was going to be another few years before that happened, but the wait would be worth it.

* * *

Bonnie went on from Todd's place, walking back to the path that would lead her to Santalune City. The time training Todd had been a very precious moment in her first days as a Trainer. Only two days in since she left Lumiose City and she was already a mentor to someone else. Who knew she would be given the role so early when she was only just a beginner?

Other than that, her own experience through her own battle against bullies was also one to remember as a personal achievement. Not only was it her very first win against a Trainer, but it was against two of them in a Double Battle. It was a huge victory for her in addition to her successful capture of Pidgey, almost making her forget the defeat she had taken from her brother a few days ago.

Almost ten minutes had passed since she left Todd and Deerling and Bonnie was soon back to planning for her upcoming battle against Viola in Santalune City. Last she left off, she had to call it a break from training, choosing to finding another Pokemon to help even the odds.

But then, there was a change of plans.

"You know what, Dedenne?" she called to her slightly drowsy Pokemon taking a nap on top of her fedora. "I think we'll be just find with the two of you guys."

"Dene?" The Pokemon sleepily listened to his Trainer. For sure, he thought Bonnie would had needed another member of the team to improve her chances. Now, she had decided to only use the two of them?

"I mean, it would be great to have another Pokemon join us, but after what I've seen just now during our battle, I wanna see what you guys can do to the fullest." explained Bonnie. "It'll be easier for me to train the two of you to do your absolute best, instead of juggling around with more Pokemon. Not yet, anyway."

Dedenne simply nodded, understanding Bonnie's point about doing his utmost best in battling against Viola's bug brawlers. Or perhaps he just wanted to get through with his nap time to rest up.

Either way, Bonnie was willing to see if she could try out her battle strategy against Viola. She would need to work on a little more tactics to add taste to her battling style, but she was confident that her Pokemon would be able to realize their strength in battle.

"It's for the best! Until we beat Viola, I'll need to become stronger too! Then we'll have room for new Pokemon and new badges."

Over the hill, she walked on to see what was over the other side. Right there, just as she remembered, she was at last able to see civilization again. A large city, slightly smaller than her own, was already in sight.

This was it. Bonnie was finally at her destination, where she would be ready to take on her first Gym Battle.

Santalune City.

"Pokemon Master, here we come!"

* * *

 **Reviewing the review, here we go!**

 **Rickymon Gaming :** **I know man, but what can you do when you're already in a pickle with internship and other classes. Hopefully, I can update faster for every other story 'cos I too am becoming quite impatient with myself XD**


	6. A Skater's Mischief

**A/N~ So sorry to keep you waiting! It's been a messy few months of writing, but after some cleaning up with my schedule, I've got the works back in order. I've been unable to make this chapter longer, but I feel that I should update the story for being inactive with it for so long. Not to mention that the second half of the chapter originally had a battle sequence involved, so I feel that for as long as this chapter went on, I feel I should continue with it in the next one.**

 **And now, without further ado, let's get the show back on track!**

 **Update (3/6/2018):** **Due to the initially short amount of words of the next chapter, I decided to try and edit it, so that some parts here would be in the next chapter, instead.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: A Skater's Mischief**

Near Santalune City,

Kalos,

3 AFC,

Garden life can be so calming. Especially for one girl, who lived in a small house not far from the big city that was Santalune.

The girl, dressed in a purple jacket with darker purple sleeves and a purple long skirt; hair tied into a ponytail but still had more falling freely below it, and a hairband with a bow stuck to it. She also wore a pair of brown boots and a white necklace with ball bearings gently hugging her neck. She was knelt down, one hand on the dirt, to pick up one of the many daisies stuck to the ground in a line.

She moved it to her nose and let her nose sniff up the wonderful aroma of a well-planted flower. She let the sweet smell sooth her body as she also felt a tingling sense of pride in her achievement of planting such beautiful flowers. All around her she was surrounded by many more patches of flowers and other grown plants such as vegetables and fruits. All seemingly grown to perfection. The work was not hers, but she was certainly glad to be part of the gardening.

The wind blew by, blowing her hair along in the breeze and cooling her in an otherwise hot sunny day. Right beside her was an Espeon. The four-legged cat-like Pokemon with a red jewel on its forehead sat down on its four legs, tail swaying from side to side as it watched the girl smell the fresh scent of the garden around them.

It seemed like a simple life for the two, away from the busy city life just ten minutes away. Living in a secluded area with only the forest to cover the area, what more could they possibly want?

"Sarah!" Suddenly, an older woman's voice called out to the girl. She poked her head over and looked towards the house. The voice came from inside the house, but the call was clear enough to let the girl know that she was needed in the house.

"Coming, Aunt Penny!" Sarah rose from the ground. She placed the flower to her ear, feeling like the perfect place for it to be for a girl like her. "Come on, Espeon." She then picked up her quiet but loving Pokemon to her arms, bringing it along with her.

"Esp!" The Pokemon purred, rubbing its forehead up to her chin as they jubilantly went back inside to attend to business.

It would be just another day for them. Little did they know that something was going to make their lives just a whole lot crazier…

* * *

"At last! Santalune City!"

On the other hand, another girl was shouting out her excitement back in the city of Santalune City. She had finally arrived after a few day's walk from Lumiose. This was where she was going to start her first ever Gym Battle against Viola and claim her first badge; one step towards her shot at the Pokemon League.

"Dene!" Her Pokemon was sharing her excitement. He was feeling all suited up and ready to get some action at the Gym to help his Trainer win her first badge.

She walked around joyously at the paved pathway, looking around the buildings and streets while remembering the last time she had been here for Ash's own battle years ago. It was the first city she had ever been to other than Lumiose, so her past feelings for adventure were beyond expectations as a kid. Now, time has passed and here she was, grown and ready to take on her next challenge as a Pokemon Trainer.

They reached a fountain somewhere in the middle of the city, one Bonnie could remember very well. Just a left turn from that fountain and Bonnie had found the place she needed to be at.

"I can't wait, Dedenne." she told her Pokemon. "Our very first Gym Battle's right here." She pointed her hand out to the large open building with greenhouse windows as its roof. This was it; the Santalune Gym!

Bonnie's time has come at last. Her first Gym battle was about to begin. She felt her excitement meter rise to overwhelming extremes with anticipation for victory burning up inside. This was where dreams begin!

She looked around the town as she headed towards the gym. She hoped to meet the Gym Leader herself and challenge her for her first Gym Badge. She was expecting the photographer to be right inside viewing her precious gallery of the many Pokemon she had seen in her adventures. Maybe she had more photos set up since the last time Bonnie was there.

On her way to the entrance, she then had her attention caught by a certain blonde woman who wore a white sleeveless blouse and a pair of greyish-green pants and most prominently, a camera with its sash slung around her neck.

"Hey, isn't that-?" Bonnie took a closer look and immediately recognized the woman. "Viola!" She ran towards the person who happened to be that challenger' the Gym Leader in the flesh.

"Oh, hello?" Viola was surprised by the sound of the energetic Trainer running towards her. Bonnie smiled at the sight of seeing a familiar face for a change. On the other hand, Viola didn't seem to recognize Bonnie at all. "And who might you be?" Bonnie's eyes widened in disbelief, refusing to believe that Viola had forgotten her.

"Wha-?! You don't remember me?" She waved her arms up and down trying to get her to notice the features that made her so recognizable. "It's me! Bonnie! You know? Sister of Clemont? The little girl who travelled with Ash?"

Viola took a second to take in what this girl had said and managed to recall the memories of seeing said person. And it was made more effective when she caught sight of a lone Dedenne hanging onto her like a baby.

"Oh! That's right!" Viola finally remembered. "Oh, of course, I remember you!" She then rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "It's just that you look like you've gain a few inches since the last time we met."

Viola did remember the little tyke who followed Ash all the way from Santalune, to the Battle Chateau, and all the way to the very end of his own journey in the Kalos League. She was even there when the Team Flare crisis erupted, and for a little girl to go through all that destruction and agony, it was certainly impressive even if she wasn't a Trainer. Now, here Bonnie was, all grown up and at the right age to become a Pokemon Trainer.

"And I guess your Dedenne's your starter?" Viola asked.

"You bet!" cheered Bonnie, stroking Dedenne by the cheek. "And he's going to wipe the floor off of your bug Pokemon!"

"Dene!" Dedenne cried with excitement as well.

"Oh, I see." Viola understood what Bonnie's intentions were. It was truly interesting to see little Bonnie now standing in front of her challenging her to a Gym match. How time really flew. "You must be here to challenge me, aren't 'ya?"

"Ohhh, I've been waiting a long time for this." Bonnie clenched both of her fists while letting her own excitement build up. Her chance to finally enter the Gym to fight Viola had come at last! At least, so she thought…

"Actually, can it wait a little longer?" Bonnie's eyes widened and her smile turned upside down, opening in disbelief as Viola had thought about postponing the fateful battle.

"What?!" exclaimed Bonnie.

"Dene?!" added Dedenne, equally shocked.

"I've just got back from an event back at Coumarine City and I took a ton of photos!" confessed Viola, still feeling bad about the suggestion to change their day of battle. "Right now, I could use the rest. Sorry, Bonnie."

Bonnie loosened her hold on her body as her torso drooped down in sadness and Dedenne nearly fell from her hat but shared her disappointment. All that walking, all that battling. The preparation for her upcoming first Gym Battle was almost for naught. She was so pumped up for this moment that Viola's request to postpone her battle was almost a joy-killer.

"Awww, man!" whined Bonnie. "I was so itching to have my very first Gym Battle!"

"Dene!" Dedenne sighed as well. Viola, on the other hand, refused to let Bonnie swim in her sea of disappointment for long. She knew Bonnie was a very cheerful girl and would be happy to look at the bright side of things, almost like a miniature version of Ash. She was looking at it now. A ten-year-old Bonnie; the same age the boy was when he first challenged her. She knew Bonnie wouldn't mind allowing the rest if she promised to do it as soon as she could.

"But don't worry! How about you come to the Gym first thing in the morning?" she assured. "I'll get my Pokemon ready, so we can have quite the battle!" On point, Bonnie cut the disappointment act and thought about the offer to start her battle early. It wasn't too late, she knew, and she would still have her battle anyways. The League was still a year away. She had all the time she could have to prepare for one battle.

"I guess it won't hurt to train a little more." she reasoned within herself. Eventually, like anyone who knew her would expect, she immediately put into a cheerful mood and smiled as brightly as she could. "You're on! Tomorrow is where I make my presence known to Kalos Trainers everywhere!" Her fists were clenched and energetic as ever, she showed her fist to prove her point. Amused by her spirit, Viola just smiled approvingly at Bonnie's determination, but she still had to show the young Trainer that she still had some tough competition ahead.

"Don't get cocky. You still gotta find a way to beat my Pokemon. Remember how Ash used to struggle during his first match?" Bonnie remembered the unfortunate first start her hero had suffered from, seeing that how he was obliterated by the Gym Leader's own menagerie of bug Pokemon.

"Y-yeah. That was a hard hitter for him." But like Ash before her, she wasn't going to let the odds from her inexperience get in the way from an all-out battle with her current party. She was going to tackle the challenge head on and she would win her first badge, whether Viola liked it or now. "But if he can come back and claim a victory, then I will too!"

Viola returned the cheerful gesture with a thumbs up, enjoying every bit of the girl's enthusiastic demeanour. However, she wasn't intending on going easy on her, especially since Bonnie at least had the experience of watching Ash's battles all the way. She would expect nothing less from a Trainer who had memory and learning by her side. Then, a drowsy Viola began to stretch her arms out from her exhausting day at work, resorting to going back to the Gym for a good rest.

"Well, I got to get back and get some shut eye." she said. "See ya, tomorrow, Bonnie! Don't expect me to hold you back!"

"You know I won't!" Bonnie declared. "Goodbye!"

"Dene Dene!" The two youngsters waved at their upcoming opponent before Viola headed back into the building, going their separate ways with Bonnie now on her way to the Pokemon Centre to book her stay for the day.

* * *

After a few hours of rest upon booking her room in the Centre, Bonnie was now all refreshed after a nice shower and her energy levels once again off the chart. After spending a few days without a proper bath, she felt all brightened up that she was finally able to cool down from her tiring first trek. Good thing she knew how to rent a room too, for she would be stuck clueless if it weren't for Clemont's lesson on Centre stays. Now, she was out at the city again, wondering what she would do to pass the time before tomorrow's epic match with Viola.

"Okay." she told to herself with Dedenne resting lazily on her head as always. "While we wait for the day we fight Viola, let's just take our time and revisit Santalune and enjoy ourselves for the next hour."

"Dene." agreed Dedenne, although he was still snoozing on top of her head.

"Then, we'll get back to the Pokemon Centre and train some more before we face the Gym Leader tomorrow. We have to come up with new strategies to one up our opponent." As Bonnie continued to monologue through her plans, she was also thinking about what to do next for her visit of the city. She hasn't really been around much during her time travelling with her brother, so she would have to do the exploring on her own. She planned to walk around the city a while to see if there was anything interesting she would find and dive into. Once she was done, she would return to the Centre and train Dedenne and Pidgey to withstand the power of Viola's Bug Pokemon.

She reached a flight of steps over a grass hill, where she could see a nearby café that seemed to have a growing number of customers. She thought this place was quite popular for it to have this many people. Maybe the food was good. So, she decided to give it a try and was on her way down the steps to see what could satisfy her appetite.

 **KRRRR!**

 **KRRRR!**

Then, Dedenne perked up his ears after hearing a rough, hard scratching sound from out of nowhere. He looked at all sides, looking for whatever was making that noise. Bonnie was already down the steps when she noticed Dedenne waking up from his slumber and making some squeaks of curiosity, which she grew to recognize.

"What is it, Dedenne?"

 **KRRRRRK!**

 **KRRRRRK!**

Soon, Bonnie began to hear the sounds as well. It sounded like her toy cars she used to play along the sidewalk outside her house. Almost like… "Huh?"

 **KKKKRR…KRK!**

Almost at the moment she looked behind her, she saw something blocking the Sun from her face, leaving a silhouette in front of her, above her flying from the hills, …

… And coming down on her, fast!

"WAHH!" An alarmed Bonnie quickly ducked down, remembering to hold on to her hat as she fell forward, making sure Dedenne wasn't caught by the falling object right above her. While she was down, the object came landing down at the next moment, with the same scratching sounds continuing upon touchdown. Bonnie opened her eyes once she felt the danger had passed. She reached for her hat and took it off with her Pokemon still on top of it.

"Are you okay, Dedenne?!" she asked her Pokemon. She could see the little guy was clutching on to her hat for dear life with the most fear-stricken look on his face.

"Dene…" The poor Pokemon squeaked, shaking all around. Bonnie let out a sigh of relief before placing her hat back on her head. Dedenne started to feel easy after Bonnie put her hat back on, but was still wide awake shivering after that near-disastrous occurrence. Now, the question was; what or who was it that nearly came crashing down on her from the steps?

"What the?!" When she turned to hear the same crushing sounds, she quickly caught sight of what nearly gave her a nasty headache. Who would dare do something so dangerous and nearly squishing her in the process?! That was when she saw what… or rather who… was responsible for the terrifying scare fest.

It was a girl wearing a white tank top and a pair of blue shorts. Her dark brown hair was tied into two pigtails and all over her she was wearing an assortment of protection wear. Elbow pads tied to her arms with gloves worn on the hands. Knee pads shielding her legs and a bright orange helmet covering the top of her head. And above all else, she was also wearing what appeared to be a pair of roller skates as she glided across the brick road. Her rapid racing around the area caught the attention of everyone in the café, who saw Bonnie almost getting whammed at by the airborne skater, which apparently encouraged the skater to increase her speed. She rolled round and around without a care in the world, drawing more attention to herself as she aimlessly skated on and on.

Once Bonnie and Dedenne saw the skater moving around, she was definitely angered by the sudden appearance of this reckless rider going around jumping over hills and skating all over the place, making things uncomfortable for nearby patrons. However, she really didn't care about what the patrons thought, she was just downright frustrated at what had nearly happened to her and she wished to set the stage to rebuke the girl for her incautious behaviour.

"Hey!" she screamed as loud as she could. "Watch where you're going!"

"Dene!" Dedenne followed along, probably angrier since he was almost a hair's width away from being pulverized by the thick wheels on that girl's skates. They were both going to remind this girl of her manners, but the skater kept on skating around.

Then, she made a sharp turnover and skidded to roll over to Bonnie. The Trainer was frightened by the incoming approach and jumped to the side right as the skater was about to bump into her. She was relieved that the skater had missed, although she knew that was the intention. She was definitely messing with her right now.

"Sorry, loser!" The skater then spun around to face Bonnie while still rolling, hands to her hip and attitude clearly showing. "But this is my turf! You can't do a thing about it!"

Bonnie grew very irritated by her insulting behaviour and threw an unforgiving rant at the reckless kid.

"How about you just tell me the next time you start jumping off of things?!" screamed Bonnie, but the skater just couldn't care at all. She just skated on and on, clearly just toying with Bonnie's patience. Then, she shrugged her shoulders and kicked her feet across the brick floor, propelling her forward and off away from bonnie and deeper into the streets.

"Whatever, loser!" She gave one last insult to Bonnie before she fled the scene, leaving behind a stunned Bonnie and a crowd of onlookers. The frustrated Trainer just stood there, not believing what she just witnessed. That skater nearly clobbered her and Dedenne to the ground and she was just so coy about it. That was all enough to make the blonde-haired Trainer all the more aggravated, almost to the point of throwing a hissy-fit.

"Why that little-?!" She was about to scream at the top of her lungs. Dedenne was again shaking in fear, waiting for whatever Bonnie would scream about. He had a right to be scared. During her younger days, Bonnie was indeed prone to throwing tantrums when push comes to shove. As she grew older, her tempers started to improve. However, should anyone really get so riled up, then she was going to let them have it, reverting back to her old, immature scream fests.

Fortunately, all that came out of Bonnie was a less volatile groan and a deep exhalation of breath to relieve her stressed out nerves.

"Ugh!" She finally let out her frustration before loosening her body to slump her hands down. Not long after, she huffed out stressfully, finally getting the anger out of her system and choosing to forget the whole thing had happened. "Forget it. She's just not worth my time." She just hoped that the skater would not come back and ended up captured by the local Officer Jenny or something. However, Bonnie knew better that a girl like that who seemed to love cruising throughout the city would eventually turn up at some point in her little trip around the joint.

"Come on, Dedenne." She huffed before saying to her Pokemon. "We've got better things to do than quarrelling with that skater girl."

"Dedene." The little mouse couldn't agree more. Because of that wild skater, his nerves were fired up enough to keep him awake for quite a while, so napping off was out of the question. He was going to have to stay up throughout the whole trip around while being disgruntled with his rude awakening.

And with that out of the way, the pair were now well on their way to try their best to forget the whole incident and enjoy their day.

* * *

Five minutes since their close brush with excruciating pain, Bonnie and Dedenne were now back to walking into the streets and finding something to satisfy their excitement and relaxation before the next day. They decided to skip the café they found earlier, not feeling the need to grab attention to themselves after what happened.

They already passed through a few shops and restaurants, as well as a few unique places where she could find some neat tips and tricks about Pokemon training. Alas, there was nothing she could find that would provide her the fun to pass her time. At least, not for now. She tried her hardest to find something to do. In fact, there were surely a lot of places she had passed that would have attracted her attention. The only problem was that she was apparently not feeling the mood for trying out these interesting places and her mind was just too focused on the one person she really wanted to unleash her frustration at her.

As much as she wanted to forget that skater girl, she was too aggravated about the whole ordeal that she wasn't able to get her out of her head. The way she just came at her with no care, without a single sign of regret was more than enough to paint her a very troubled figure in Bonnie's mind. She couldn't understand why someone would actually want to bash her out just because she was in the way. To add insult to the injury, she just rode off, not even leaving behind a word for forgiveness. There was only utter rudeness.

The skater was certainly someone Bonnie didn't really want to meet again, but at the same time, she was just itching to teach her a lesson and set things straight with her before anyone else gets hurt. Nevertheless, she knew better not to start a reckless fight without considering the repercussions to her etiquette. She was better than that; she was going to brush it off, whether she'd like it or not.

In the midst of doing her best to find something worth her time and patience, she then stumbled upon a very peculiar sight. In front of her, she stopped to see something happening to the outer wall of a big palace-like building. She saw a trio of officers, dressed in their light blue uniforms and fitted with official dressings made for the law, inspecting said wall, accompanied by a lone Growlithe right by the middle officer's side. That officer, most definitely identified by Bonnie as Santalune's Officer Jenny, with her permed cyan-coloured hair tied to a fluffy pony-tail, watched inquisitively at the wall like she was reading a book. Bonnie thought something was definitely wrong, especially since Jenny was involved in the scene.

As always, her curiosity was driving her to investigate the situation. So, she went over to find out what was going on. If there was anything she could do to help, then that would serve as a more exciting way to finally have some fun before nightfall, doing something that would not only satisfy her excitement, but would also make her feel extra proud of contributing to society.

She ran for the three officers to see what the problem was. Once she arrived took a good look at the wall where the officers were inspecting. There, she saw what appeared to be some lines of text all over the wall. They were very bubbly and with different colours and different styles; all of them bordered with a thick outline of black, while also joined by a few scribbles of Pokemon drawn with black ink; looking like an Arbok, a Drapion and a few Scolipedes drawn here and there. The words themselves were all giving out a rough depiction of trouble and dissatisfaction written all over the wall like ' _GET OUT OF MY LIFE'_ and _'Can't Catch Me,_ Idiots'. Indeed, she was looking at an act of vandalism, graffiti sprayed all over the place with a hint of mischief and revolt in the wording. Still, she wanted to know a little more of the big picture.

"Excuse me, Officer?" Bonnie asked the Officer Jenny. The older woman turned around to find the Trainer calling her. "Just what is going on here anyway?" Without hesitation, the officer told Bonnie of the mess that had happened to this fair building.

"A kid has been going around trying to make a mess of buildings in this city." she reported. "Then, we suddenly caught her spraying all this graffito on the mayor's building. We tried to catch the girl, but she was just too quick. Even our Pokemon were unable to get her to stop." Bonnie was somewhat amazed by how elusive this girl must had been to commit such an act and evade the police and their Pokemon with the greatest of ease.

"Wait a minute!" Then, it was at that moment Bonnie knew. The speed of the crime, the delinquency of the act, the fact that it was a girl who did this. It all added up very fast and she was going to make sure she had the right answer before jumping to conclusions. "Did this girl happen to be riding on roller skates?"

"Why yes!" Officer Jenny confirmed her suspicions. "Did you happen to see her?" It was indeed that girl! The girl on the roller skates!

"Oh yes, I did!" she exasperatedly confirmed, still sour about her impolite encounter with the skater. "She even nearly got me road-killed!" She felt like throwing a tantrum just thinking about the rude little brat who made a fool of her. "She then skated off and was nowhere to be seen after that." After Bonnie's recount of her unfortunate meeting with the skater, the officers were now giving their attention to Bonnie, even if the details were brief and inconclusive. Either way, they were glad someone was able to help out anyway she could.

"Oh well. Thanks for your help." Officer Jenny thanked her. "This girl has been running amok for two weeks now. We just don't know what motivation she could have or what she wants from all of this."

"If I see her, I'll let you know! Don't worry about a thing, Officer Jenny!" declared Bonnie.

"Dene!" With Bonnie and Dedenne's offer to assist the officers on the search for the girl, Officer Jenny nodded in approval for their cooperation.

"That'd be much appreciated." the officer showed her gratitude with a salute to the Trainer. Bonnie was grinning from the thought of bringing in that rude and wild girl for being such a stuck-up little jerk to her as payback for the awful treatment she had given her and Dedenne. It was time she got the punishment she so deserved for publicly shaming her in front of so many people, even if the pedestrians were almost as baffled of her behaviour as Bonnie and Dedenne were.

"ARGH!" Just as she was about to leave and search for the suspect, Bonnie and the officers heard a rough groan of frustration. They turned to the side and found a very irritated middle-aged man in a suit with a bag hanging under his arm, scratching his hair violently as if he had suffered a very terrible blunder in his day. He so happened to be walking towards the group while being all riled up about something.

"Who is that?" Bonnie asked herself, though her voice was audible enough to be heard by Officer Jenny.

"Oh. That's Mike Lambert." She gladly answered for her. "He is a building director sent to Santalune to work on a new building project." Again, the conversation was clear as a whistle, heard by the man who walked right up to the officers and moaned some more before trying to calm down with a few breaths in and out of his boiling system.

"And **I** just have had enough of that miserable delinquent running around town trying to ruin my work!" Bonnie was certainly interested the more she delved into this mutual hunt for the skater girl. Now, it seemed like the guy in charge of some building project was also having trouble facing the mischievous skater girl, but she was also very curious about what the man had in store for the city of Santalune.

"Your work, sir?" she asked the man. Mr. Lambert then threw a questioning look at the girl and her little Dedenne present in the situation before him.

"And you are?" He asked, still a bit rough from stress.

"Oh, sorry. My name's Bonnie. And here's my partner, Dedenne." The Trainer introduced herself and her Pokemon.

"Dene!" The cheerful chirping of the mouse Pokemon joined in the welcoming, although the man himself was not as occupied with saying hello right about now.

"Well it's nice to meet you too. But I just don't have the time or place for such meetings right now." he groaned, earning a distressed pout from Bonnie.

"Sheesh. You didn't have to rub it in like that." She crossed her arms as her cheeks bloated from annoyance. Twice was she already given the rude look on their faces today and it was not doing her any good.

"Nene." Dedenne mimicked his partner's expression, being a bit defensive towards Bonnie for the rude comment.

"Don't worry, Mr. Lambert." Officer Jenny assured the director. "We will have the kid found and explain herself."

"The sooner the better, Officer." The director put his hands on his hips, flabbergasted for some results in the thwarting of the skater's misadventures of vandalism and shaming. He was about to finally leave the officers to do their part in finding the mischievous skater.

"Umm…" Bonnie called on the man before he could move. "If you don't mind me asking, sir. What exactly are you going to build here?" The man motioned to clear his throat, moving his fist towards his mouth as he coughed. Bonnie's interest in what he had in store for the city was an opportunity he could not refuse. He eagerly turned to face Bonnie and began to present his project to the Trainer.

"Ahem. I suppose I could spare a few details." He began his presentation. "Are you a Trainer, Bonnie?"

"Yes, sir!" Bonnie cheered.

"Then you're going to love what we'll have in store for you! What I have planned is a brand new way for you to get all the stuff you need to enhance your Trainer experience!" Bonnie listened into what appeared to be another business proposal which did interest her since it had to do with improving her Pokemon Training skills. She wasn't usually so in tune with long boring advertising, but to her surprise, she was actually invested into paying attention for once, listening to the building manager as he explained his plans. "I call it, the Trainer EXP Expo!"

Hmph. How unoriginal…

"It will feature some of the best tools and equipment just right for your needs! You'll never have to lag behind on a training lesson ever again! Technical Machines, Trainer Tools, even Hidden Machines! They'll be all available for you to get one step ahead of the competition! The future is now!" Bonnie couldn't help but sigh at the last sentence, clearly reminding her of another very familiar quote in mind from a certain nerd.

"Well, that was quite… brief." She quietly whispered to Dedenne.

"Dene…" agreed the mouse Pokemon.

"Hey! I know I'll do!" suggested Mr. Lambert. "You help us round up that no-good scallywag, and I'll see if I can whip up a free gift courtesy of the Expo!"

Bonnie's eyes glittered at the sound of a tempting reward for her contribution in catching that arrogant skater. She was going to give it her all to bring in the wrongdoer and help allow peace to be restored from the ruckus caused by her loud and dangerous escapades. The rewards didn't really matter, at least so she thought; it was all about helping the people and that was all that mattered.

"It's a deal!" She gladly accepted her task with a strong fist.

"Dedenne!" Her Pokemon was as equally as enthusiastic.

"Good." The manager smiled, knowing that the job of keeping the peace while he was busy with his work on building his new expo centre. There was going to be zero tolerance for any sabotage or destruction of property from that skater girl. A Trainer like Bonnie was sure to get it done, even if she was just a beginner, which he was unaware of. Bonnie didn't want to spoil this good opportunity to snag a good re- Uh… Help out the manager and get some payback to that speed demon. "Then, please be on your way!"

"Just remember to send her to us when you've got her." reminded Officer Jenny. "We'll contact her parents once we get a hold of her story."

"You got it, Officer Jenny!" Bonnie gave a very bubbly salute to the officers, which Dedenne then mimicked. "I'm on the case!" And just like that, Bonnie was already on the move, getting right to the task at hand, leaving behind the bunch of amused adults watching them being ever so cheerfully. The Trainer-Pokemon duo were already about to disappear into the streets to search for the skater and bring her in.

* * *

Bonnie and Dedenne were both strolling through the streets, searching for signs of their target; the skater girl that nearly gave them sick days with nasty headaches. She kept on looking here and there for the speeding delinquent, making sure that Dedenne was powered up in case she needed him to do a little shock therapy.

They scanned through each open road and clear street where one might find a rogue skater flourishing around and up to no good. However, it had been already ten minutes since Bonnie had begun her search and yet, even with all the possible places the skater could be, she was getting nowhere. There was not a single sight of the rollerblade riding devil roaming around anywhere, nor were there any clues like disgruntled passers-by or damaged property to lead her to the skater.

The lengthy search was starting to get on the pair's nerves. If this kept up, then the skater was going to do some more damage to the construction of the Expo and she would not gain the manager's trust. She had to search even harder and find that girl before anything could happen.

"Come on!" groaned Bonnie. "She's got to be around here somewhere!" She was almost on the verge of kicking something to ease her stress. Dedenne did the only thing he could do and calm her down with a little shocking surprise.

"Dene!" He climbed on down to her face and rubbed his cheek against hers, giving her a nasty jolt of electricity to snap her from out of her nerving tantrum.

"YAAAAHHH!" Her body was hit hard with volts of electricity, shutting her up really good. With her body now fried but finally relieved of her stress, she was free to take a breather and dust herself from the soot. She breathed out to slowly utter out her thanks to Dedenne for keeping her in check.

"Thanks for the charge, pal." she said to Dedenne. "This girl really needs a chill pill after this." She got her nerves back in the game and was somewhat refreshed to continue her quest to find the skater running wild in the streets as of this very moment. "I just wish I had a better chance of finding her." Bonnie was all open for suggestions right about now, hoping that she'd come up with a way to make things easier for her.

"Wait a minute!" She slapped herself at the side of her head. She had just realized there was just one sure fire way to find things with the greatest of ease. She dug into her pocket and took out the PokeBall she could had used from the very beginning, enlarging it and tossing it into the air. The ball opened up and ejected the only other Pokemon she had in her party. Pidgey flew around after being warped out, flapping at attention to Bonnie's command.

"Okay, Pidgey!" Bonnie yelled from below. "I need you to find a little troublemaker around the city! She's riding around on a pair of skates like a beast, so she shouldn't be hard to find!"

Pidgey knew the task would be difficult. It was a Pidgey after all. With such a short wingspan, it would require multiple stops here and there atop the roofs. Life for a Pidgey was usually restricted to the forests where food is plentiful and flight was minimal; from tree to tree. Only when evolved into its next stage would it finally soar into the air and be able to migrate much further. However, Bonnie's Pidgey would do its best, trusting its Trainer as it did back in the forest and its first Battle against two full-fledged and trained Pokemon.

"Krow!" Pidgey cawed in response, giving an aerial salute with its one wing to Bonnie.

"Okay! Go for it!" The Trainer gave a swipe of her fist into the air, signalling for Pidgey to commence the aerial reconnaissance mission to hunt down and find the rogue skater. It fluttered on out and away over the city to locate its target while Bonnie watched on with hope. "There it goes." As Pidgey left her sight, Bonnie and Dedenne were prepared to continue their hunt, bolstered by the addition of Pidgey into the search party.

The pair walked some more for another few minutes, looking around on the ground while awaiting any word from Pidgey in the air. They peered up occasionally to find the bird Pokemon still soaring up in the air and landing on top of buildings to rest before going up again for another sweep.

In the midst of her trek, she was still unable to find anything that could lead the way and find the girl. All was relatively quiet in Santalune. No officers chasing around, no Growlithes or any other police Pokemon barking or roaring in the background. There were only pedestrians walking about, most side by side with a Pokemon or two for each individual. No one was in any harm or pursuit. Everything was quiet.

She stopped at a crossroad where she would scan the premises for trouble. She figured it'd be the best place for some mayhem and not to mention the area was on a hill, wide enough for a good view of most of the city. But even with more visibility, she was finding no one within her sights. The skater was proving to more and more elusive with each passing half an hour.

"Huh?" But then, just when she was about to move on, she heard it. The same dragging sound of asphalt being crushed and rolled down, speeding towards her direction. The sounds she reminded herself not to forget that signalled the near painful slam to her head. She turned around just a she heard the noise and surely enough, her hunt was over.

 **KRAK!**

With one jump of the pavement, the skater girl had finally re-emerged, once again right above Bonnie's head.

"AAHH!" Bonnie was, if not slightly more prepared this time, as she instinctively ducked down just in time to allow the skater to soar above her and land right in front of her. This time, she just ran off without looking back at the blonde Trainer she nearly crashed into.

Bonnie got back up and took a good look at the runaway racer speeding away into the distance. She soon riled up in accomplishment that she found her target, but also a bit of anger in knowing that the skater had tried to bump her in the head twice. With her sights set, she and Dedenne were ready to pursue her and bring her in to be questioned for her unsettling behaviour.

"Hey!" she yelled to the skater. "Get back here!" Her cries were obviously falling on deaf ears, forcing her with no choice but to run after her on two feet. There was already a good amount of doubt she would be able to catch up, but she had to do her best to close the distance and follow her as much as she could. She hoped that Pidgey was in the air at the time of her pursuit. She kept on running towards the skater, but was already losing her as the speed demon was much faster, skating hard without any notice to her chaser.

She was already about to lose Bonnie when she turned left to a crossroad, leaving Bonnie only halfway to the turn. Bonnie picked up the pace and ran towards that corner of the building where the skater was lost from her sights. She turned to her left to that same direction and saw that the skater was still riding straight along the sidewalk, rushing through panicked people and Pokemon alike. Bonnie's patience with her grew even thinner, pushing her forward to chase her again. Dedenne jumped off his Trainer's head, hoping to help gain some ground with his own agility. But the skater was still too quick for them to shorten the gap between them. Sooner or later, she was going to vanish over the hill again before Bonnie could even catch up.

The skater was then seen jumping over a crosswalk and again, disappearing over a hill. Bonnie was now losing steam as she began to slow down from losing energy in her running. Dedenne had a little more speed and energy to try and catch up to find where the skater was going to end up next.

When they reached the hill where they last saw the skater, they looked over for her again. This time, after searching around the area, there was no sign of her. The girl was once again gone from her sights.

Bonnie gritted her teeth and stomped her foot in her usual habit of frustration. She was so sure she'd have the skater in her clutches but the girl was just too elusive to be caught. For the second time of the day, Bonnie had missed her mark again.

"Darn it!" She kicked her foot onto the pavement before sinking down on the ground with her arms crossed. "I was so close this time!"

"Dene!" Dedenne tried to calm down his Trainer, but only with some tiny pats on her leg as she knelt deeper into failure. However, just as Bonnie was about to finally give up again, she then remembered one thing that could put her back on track. She snapped her fingers and shot back up with cheer and hope again.

"Of course!" she yelled to herself with relief. "Why did I forget?" She then looked up to the clouds above her and called upon her 'eyes in the sky'. "Pidgey!" She cupped her hands and brought them to her mouth before calling out to her Pokemon as loud as she could. Thankfully, Pidgey was not far away as the bird Pokemon came flying towards her from across the road where it was, Bonnie hoped, following the skater to wherever she went to.

Pidgey came swooping down and perched on Bonnie's arm as she raised up her elbow to let it land, clutching its talons around her arm.

"Did you manage to find her?" Bonnie asked, actually pleading inside for an answer.

"Prr-idgey!" The bird Pokemon cawed in acknowledgement, giving Bonnie a sure sign of hope.

"Then, lead the way!" She raised her arm up and let Pidgey take off into the air to show Bonnie the way to the skater girl. They followed closely behind, keeping a good look at Pidgey as it led them towards their location. The bird flew higher to see if the target had not strayed far from where it left her. Thankfully, it didn't take long for Pidgey to relocate the skater, catching her speeding through another crowded street. Bonnie and Dedenne made haste and followed it through the city, keeping a close eye on Pidgey along the way.

 **TO BE CONTINUED…**


	7. A Daughter's Sanctuary

**A/N~ Finally! This story was long overdue! To be honest, I had some trouble writing this chapter over the lack of how it could make a good or decent filler chapter.**

 **But after some more writing and planning, all is good! Hope everyone's been patient, but I will always make sure to update as much as I can!**

 **Thanks to Dodger el perro for the new favourite!**

 **Update (3/6/2018) :** **Due to the initially short amount of words in this chapter, I decided to try and edit it, so that some parts of the last chapter would be in here, instead.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: A Daughter's Sanctuary**

Santalune City,

Kalos,

3 AFC,

Finally, after what appeared to be a few minutes of chase, Bonnie and Dedenne were already reaching the outer parts of the city. They hoped to find Pidgey and finally have contact with the skater to make her answer for her unpleasant attitude. She made to an alleyway where Pidgey was already flying low into. She saw the bird Pokemon fluttering down in between two buildings, anticipating Bonnie's arrival. The Trainer was reunited with her Pokemon to hear the status of its search and follow.

"Is she here, Pidgey?" asked Bonnie.

"Krow!" confirmed Pidgey, facing the direction to where the skater was. Bonnie peeked over the wall to find the skater girl standing still. She didn't look like she knew she was being chased, which was good news for Bonnie to stop her in her tracks. She stood looking at a wide-open area surrounded by chain-link fences. When Bonnie took a closer look, she saw that the area had some ramps and strange-shaped holes which had curved walls leading up to the surface. It was easy to see that the skater had reached her home turf; the skating park where Bonnie assumed was where she could have the most fun in. Not today.

"Good job, Pidgey." Bonnie thankfully petted her flying Pokemon, who cooed in her brushing on the head. She then withdrew Pidgey back into its Pokeball before keeping it back into her pocket. With her target found and right in her sights, time to get to work. She pushed her fedora up before marching forward to face the skater girl head on. Dedenne sparked up intending to shock the skater in case she tried to make the run for it. He was sure Bonnie wouldn't mind that he would take action against the punk before she'd make another getaway.

"Huh?" However, just as she was about to cross the road to get to her, Bonnie saw something very odd about the skater. She was just standing there, staring into the skating park. Surely she would have had just got into the park and ride around to her heart's content. Alas, she was just staying still, as if something was preventing her from going in. She then laid her eyes on the park gate itself. Apparently, it was closed shut, doors locked and blocking all access to the park. It would had been a good idea to have it open since it was so bright out.

Then, that was where Bonnie saw it. At the doors, she could see a sign stuck onto the door. The skater seemed to be locked towards that sign like a priest going to a prayer. Motionless and focused on that sign. Bonnie got a little closer as to not startle the skater before finding out the answer to herself. After reading the sign, everything began to change…

"Closed for Renovation?" Now, it was all beginning to make sense. Just by looking at the skater staring at that sign was all she needed to know what was going on. The park was being closed for good and the skater girl was probably heavily affected by the closedown. She could imagine the girl going through a mood swing of emotions running wild in her body. The flush of anger and sadness from the closing was most probably the reason why she was going on such a rampage, bumping into people and vandalizing the council building. The skater wasn't being mischievous just to have fun. Her fun was being taken away…

"Oh no… She was actually upset about her skating park being closed down." Bonnie was now taken aback. All this time, she had been chasing who she thought was a delinquent running mad thrashing into people for no good reason. And now, here, she could see everything coming to the light. There was nothing more she could feel other than guilt and failure due to not understanding what this girl had been through.

She begun to have some ideas on what else was going on about the skate park being closed down. But when she looked at the skater girl now completely in sorrow, she had no time to speculate. She had to make things right and open up to this girl, no matter what she did to her.

"Dedenne." The mouse Pokemon on top of her also felt sorry for the girl and tapped Bonnie's forehead to let Bonnie know she had to do something. Bonnie nodded, now finally agreeing to help the girl out. Whatever her problem was, she had to do something about it.

"Come on, pal." She walked on over with Dedenne above her head and went to settle her differences with the girl and give her the help she might need to finally stop messing around with the town.

"Hey!" She tried to sound very happy to meet her again, but when the skater turned her head, she didn't look any bit pleased to see her.

"Ugh, not you again." she grunted. "What do you want?" She crossed her arms together and shifted her head away from Bonnie. The girl still remained stubborn as before, but now that Bonnie had understood what might be going on, she wasn't going to let this chance slide.

"Is this why you're going around racing throughout the city spraying stuff onto the council building?" she then asked the skater. "Because this place is closing down?"

"What do you want to know?" The skater huffed, still refusing to speak. The reluctance to speak made Bonnie very cross, making her even more serious to start a conversation with this little brat. She wasn't sure if it was going to do her any good, but if things had to be done, she was going to give it her best shot.

"Hey! I've nearly been run over by your skates and had to chase after you to get a better answer as to why. The least you can do is let me understand your problems!" Her sudden rant had left the skater taken aback by what she said to her, but she didn't want her to meddle in her affairs. She continued to argue back, now really wishing Bonnie would just go away.

"You… really want to know?!" she yelled back. "This is ridiculous!"

"Just let me help you!" Suddenly, Bonnie went straightforward and shut her up with the top of her voice. The sheer power of her voice had put the skater in her place. She was speechless when Bonnie yelled at her, still eager to help her. She couldn't understand. Why could this stranger who had annoyed her at one point would even want to help her through this? What kind of power did she have that could turn everything around and make things better?

"What?" she uttered, still in disbelief. Bonnie was now ready to ask with passion.

"I know you're angry about what's going on here, but going around smashing into people isn't going to solve it. So, please, just tell me what I can do to help you." The skater was now even more puzzled. Bonnie seemed to be very advocate on helping others and the way she went through felt all too real, as if she had seen such hardships before.

"You wanna help?" But the anger inside her began to envelop again. "Fine! Go to my dad right now and beg for him to let the place be open again. Maybe that will help me out!" Bonnie was astonished by what the girl yelled to her about. Her dad? What did this have to do with her father, whoever he was?

"Your dad?" she asked again.

"Yeah! The mayor of the city's my dad!" Bonnie's eyes widened. At last, the answers keep on coming. Something must had ticked inside of her because of her father, the mayor's inability to help her with the skating park. If he was in charge and was the father of her, then why in the world would he let something precious to her be taken away just like that?!

The skater was beyond angry now, refusing to talk about her father. Bonnie saw the tears coming down her eyes but the skater shifted her head away, ashamed that she was crying in front of her.

"Humph! Some dad he is!" Her temper was already making Bonnie even more sorry for her, feeling the pain of losing something or someplace valuable to her and the ones you love aren't there to do anything about it, let alone being the mayor of the town and all.

"Why won't your dad listen to you, then?" Bonnie continued to question her, very confused about the lack of care he was putting in her. "You're his daughter, right?"

"All he cares about is his money. He's always more focused on his work than me. I never get to play with him anymore." Now, the skater seemed to be overcome with utter sadness. Tears were now rolling down her face as the fondest memories spent with her father came to mind. "I used to love playing with him. How he would always spend time with me and have fun. How he would come with me to get some ice-cream. And most of all…" She sniffed her nose before continuing with what she wanted to say; what she thought was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Her father's best gift to her.

"This." Her hand raised and directed at that very gift. Bonnie felt a pang of disbelief when she found out that her father had given her the very skating park he was about to close down. It all made sense now. The one man who actually gave her the place of her dreams, was the same man who was approving of its destruction. Her own father.

"I get it now…" she sighed to herself. She could not believe how selfish the skater's father must had been. To give up his daughter's favourite place over something else, it was beyond despicable. She even wondered if her father had any care at all to do such a thing, like, if it was for the greater good? Would it serve a positive outcome to the citizens? If anything, he could have even tried to give her a new park to at least give her fun back while the old one was being removed. Alas, with what she was seeing with the skater, there was no word to describe how she felt for her. She and Dedenne looked at each other, sharing mutual sadness. She then looked at the girl and put her hand on her shoulder as she cried on.

"Look, I'm sorry I've been so rude to you." apologized Bonnie. "I didn't know you were going through all of this."

"What does it matter now?" The girl sniffed again. She was still facing doubt over the fate of her beloved zone of fun. "He'll just get rid of the park anyway." Bonnie didn't sit still for this. She should know what being a loving daughter should be, and she was going to teach her a thing or two about daddy issues. She certainly had the experience dealing with her dad by the time she grew since her adventures with her brother.

"Why not talk to him? You'll never know unless you actually get in there and convince him to stop the construction." suggested Bonnie.

"Are you crazy?!" Exasperated, the skater opposed Bonnie's request for her to speak to her dad. "He's the mayor of the town! He gets to do everything he wants and he'll make sure he gets it!"

"But you're his daughter." argued Bonnie, trying to find the love for the father within that skater girl's rock-hard heart. No way even the busiest or the most powerful people in the world could ever forget their own children. They must love them enough to listen and give them the care and devotion to fulfil their needs and wants. "If you take the time to talk to him, maybe he'll finally understand. I'm sure deep down inside, underneath all of that responsibility and wealth, he still loves you."

Now, the skater stopped to think about what Bonnie was telling her. There was truth in her words; Bonnie was right about her dad being the caring father she always loved. Perhaps the pressures of running a city like this must had done something to him that forced him to become more focused on city affairs than her. If that was the case, why even bother?

"But… what if he doesn't want to listen to me?" she voiced out her concerns, though almost soft enough for Bonnie to give her one more chance to convince her.

"Then, we'll have to make him!" She slammed her fist onto her other hand, determined to make things right between the two. "Come on. Let's try it out. Give it a shot." At that point, she began to see the devotion in Bonnie's voice that made her feel a little changed. It was almost as if she felt Bonnie's urge to help her solve her problems. Maybe she's right. She still loved her father, even if he became the busy mayor who seemed to care more of his city than her.

There had to be hope. She needed to believe in Bonnie if she wanted to save her one and only place that mattered to her other than her home. Her dad had to listen in some way, because if not, then what were all those memories even worth? There had got to be a spark inside that could help bring that fun back and perhaps, make him see reason to keep the park intact.

With that in mind, the skater had finally decided to give it a shot. If her father couldn't help her, then she wouldn't know who would. She left all to hope that she'll be able to convince her father to save her park.

"Alright." She nodded silently, allowing Bonnie the opportunity to help her find closure with the seemingly ignorant mayor. The skater's openness had finally put that cheery smile on Bonnie's face. Her past grudge with the girl was completely gone, now showing eagerness to assist the needy and make things better for everyone.

"What's your name?" She began by getting to know the girl, feeling that a bit of introduction could help go a long way. The skater still felt a tad bit uneasy with Bonnie after their less-than-stellar first meeting. She still felt the urge to open up to Bonnie after hearing her trying to reach out to her for so long.

"Corey." At last, the skater spoke with courtesy, or what was left of it. Nevertheless, Bonnie still showed her trademark kindness in a greeting.

"I'm Bonnie. Here's Dedenne." she introduced herself and her Pokemon, with the little mouse joining in with the greeting.

"Dene!"

"Now, come on." Bonnie gestured for Corey to follow her so that they could bring back the park for her and get her happiness back. "We got some ne… Negotri… Negotatatons…?" No matter how strong was her power to help the needy, her lack of better words hadn't matured just as much.

"Negotiations." Corey had to finish the sentence for her.

"Right! What you said!" The Trainer didn't want to continue feeling ridiculous about herself and decided to lead everyone to business with the Mayor. But as they left, Bonnie looked behind her to see Corey, standing still; her head turned to that skating park that was on the verge of being taken away for good. She wasn't sure how Bonnie would do it, but there was nothing more she could than hope for the best that, somehow, a miracle would emerge…

* * *

The trio headed their way to the council building where Corey could finally settle things with her father about the park he had once given her. The front door was just in front of them; one step closer to getting her delight back.

The test of a daughter's love for her father was about to be put to the test. Once she entered her father's office, she was going to let him know that what he was doing to hurting her so much. That all the stunts she did to the city and its people was all out of depression and betrayal. With a few words, she hoped that Bonnie was right about convincing her father about the removal of her pride and joy was not what she wanted.

Bonnie was also holding onto hope that things were going to be alright again. The mayor had to listen to Corey. A father who valued money over his daughter's love was beyond anything she could ever loathe from a person. If things didn't go the way she planned, she would be there to help Corey out. For now, the girls were already well close to touching the door knob to open up and get right in, with all hopes on winning the fight to save Corey's skating park. The daughter held in her breath, wishing that she would be able to say what she had to her father and getting her park back.

"Bonnie!" Suddenly, there was a loud call from behind them. The two turned around to find the businessman who was Mr. Lambert calling Bonnie in a joyful mood.

"Mr. Lambert?" she mused, a little startled by the sudden bright appearance of the building manager right behind them. If she turned to her new friend, however, she would notice that things weren't as good as she would have thought.

"You found that rat! Well done!" cheered Mr. Lambert. Bonnie could not believe her ears when she heard it, but even as she knew she was initially in for the job, she was quite astonished to hear the man's completely less-than-stellar attitude towards the young daughter of the mayor. After all she heard from Corey, though, she knew she was going to be in for a bit of trouble. She felt that the man had every right to be mad at Corey for what she did to his little project. The one thing that did swim in her mind, however, was why was Mr. Lambert making such a big fuss about it. Corey was going to solve things with her father and everyone could live in peace. And another thing was why was Corey doing the stuff she did to him?

Surely, if Mr. Lambert was being such a temperamental man because of her, then it might stand to reason that Corey might have some motivation in targeting him. Could it be…?

"Now hand her over to the cops! I'm done dealing with this punk!" Mr. Lambert's somewhat rude remarks towards Corey aggravated the skater girl, making her boil inside and willing to lash out her anger at him.

"You stupid old man!" Bonnie wasn't entirely sure, but somewhere inside of her, she suspected the whole connection between Corey and Mr. Lambert that made the former so angered by his presence. And all of that was going to be true to her once Corey spat out once more. "It's because of you my dad's getting rid of my skating park! Take your stupid project somewhere else and get lost!"

Once again, it all came to Bonnie as swift as lightning. She had some worry that Mr. Lambert was indeed responsible or at least part of the plan to remove Corey's skating park, considering his own plans to set up his own building of all sorts of Trainer goods and accessories. Even if his attentions seemed noble, the fact that he was ruining the joy of a little girl was still unbearable.

"Is this true, sir?" she asked in disbelief, looking at the manager with distaste. The man just scoffed, sounding like his actions were just and fair.

"That old place?" he pointed his thumb to the direction of the park's location, setting his hopes of replacing it with his snazzy new shop for more to enjoy. "Of course, I want to get rid of it. No one ever uses that place anymore."

"But I do!" Corey fired back, defending the need for the park to exist, tears now running down and her face boiling red from anger. All of the fun she had whenever she went to that park kept her running wild for a good long time. Now that the park was going to go, it was all enough to make her even madder than she was to her father, to let a snob like Lambert to build his stupid building over the one place she wouldn't get rid of for the world.

"I'm sorry, Corey, but rules are rules." the manager still let Corey knew that the situation was hopeless, that it was his time to shine. "Your dad has approved of the construction of my building to replace that old waste of space, and I'm going to make sure my project's gonna bring a lot of people and get actual money. More than that old place ever did…"

Corey was already on the verge of breaking down, weeping out the hopelessness of the inevitable loss of her treasured park; the one place she could expressed all her fun and freedom without a care in the world. Her inability to faze the man who would do it all made her even more desperate to cry out her frustrations. Alas, the man didn't really bother, turning around to answer a call from one of his workers before finishing it off, probably to give the demolition a go to remove the park, once and for all.

"That's not fair!" Bonnie couldn't stand the narcissism Mr. Lambert was showing throughout their interaction with him. The first time she met him, the man seemed like a modest opportunist, willing to offer Trainers a better chance in the world of Pokemon. Now, however, she was seeing the true colours of yet another greedy man who claimed to be wanting to help others. Deep down inside, she easily guessed as much that the deceivingly helpful man was nothing more than a jerk who wanted nothing more than the riches he would get, all at the cost of someone's happiness.

"Bonnie. Please be reasonable." Lambert continued to stand by his case while also seeing that Bonnie had suddenly turned sides and decided to argue against him. "What I'm doing is to give Trainers like you a greater chance of starting out your journeys with a bang! Don't you want the perfect way to become the best there ever was?"

"No! Not when it takes away the joy of someone else!" Bonnie kept the fire going, determined to make the man see reason of his errors. "How dare you try and take away the one place Corey loved?!" She then stomped her foot on the ground with her fists thrust downwards at the same time. "I swear, you're such a big meanie!"

"Dene!" Dedenne crossed his arms together while also squeaking angrily at the greedy businessman. Despite her compassion, Bonnie didn't really find her insult as strong as it used to be, clearly a symptom of growing up.

 _I've got to come up with better insults than this…_

Still, rant or no rant, Lambert ignored the devotion roared upon him. He simply shrugged his shoulders while he smirked with an arrogant grin.

"Sorry, girls." He gave a mock apology, almost taunting the girls for their useless efforts to preserve Corey's park. "But what can I do? I've got the paperwork to back me up." He took out the forms that he needed to affirm his authority over the matter, thudding the stack with his fingers. While he took the moment to relish in his jurisdiction over the construction of his building, Bonnie was not about to give up just yet. When things would fail to reach a turning point, there was only one way to solve her problems.

"Alright, then!" she shouted back. "If you won't approve, then…" Bonnie had to think of a way to get that man's attention before he could walk away with his prize. If there was one thing that could be the solution to everyone's problems, it had to be… "I challenge you to a Battle!"

"What?" Even Corey couldn't believe what she just heard. All of a sudden, of all the things Bonnie could have come up with to settle a man's greedy ambitions, it had to be a Pokemon battle. She was flabbergasted by such a request; she would have fainted from bewilderment. Dedenne, too, was just as dumbfounded, though he did faint and fell on the top of Bonnie's hat.

To be fair, Mr. Lambert was stupefied by a childish demand. He didn't have time to deal with some children's games when he had other plans that required his attention. Scoffing at the pointless threats, he was going to turn around and proceed to work when Bonnie spoke up again. Her voice was now giving all a vibe that Bonnie thought was sassy. At least, she tried to be…

"Surely, you must have some Pokemon in your pocket, right? Then face me in battle! Prove you've got the authority over us!" challenged Bonnie.

"Hmph! This is pointless!" groaned Mr. Lambert. "I've got no time for child's play." Bonnie crossed her arms, now playing the sly girl she rarely did before with her brother when it came to silly bets.

"What's wrong?" sighed the Trainer. "Not game enough to even try?"

"Uh, Bonnie…?" Corey still couldn't believe how could the Trainer ever think of such an idea to straight up challenge a full-grown adult to a Pokemon battle, when nothing really connected. It just came out as purely unnecessary when a more mature approach could have been achieved. Well, at least Bonnie was having fun. Eventually, she soon decided to shrug her shoulders and shake her head, still playing with the man's absurd response towards her challenge.

"Hmmm. I guess you're really no fun after all. I thought you had big ambitions to help Trainers fulfil their needs? Some architect you are." It seemed to have ticked him off, judging by the stern look on Mr. Lambert's face. His furrowed brows and toothy frown did give off a definite sign that he was offended by the girl. Still, Corey didn't really think he would ever concede to Bonnie's shenanigan.

"Stop your nonsense." Mr. Lambert still refused. Bonnie just continued to play along and finally, she just went ahead and did the sensible thing after all. Though slightly disappointed with his rejection, she was still willing to settle the more important thing in the situation, and that was to help Corey bring back her park.

"Well, perhaps we could just try and talk to the Mayor anyway." Bonnie resumed her teasing streak as she walked past him and towards the council building where she reluctantly had to result to the direct approach and speak to the Mayor. However, she was still going to make a bit of a last ditch effort to really tick the manager off. "Oh, and if we don't get the park saved, we can always tell your customers on what a no-show you are. I mean, building something for Trainers when you couldn't even accept **one** battle? Ooh, that's not going to look good on you." With the twiddling of her finger, she finally turned around and walked with Corey into the building to get things done with her and her father.

Corey grinned slightly, glad that Bonnie was having her back. However, she just couldn't believe the immaturity of Bonnie's attempt at toying with Mr. Lambert's mind. Surely, he wasn't going to fall for it. He was so much more of a grown-up than the two girls combined, so why should he ever be so gullible enough to fall for such a childish threat?

"Come on, Corey." Bonnie swiped her hand gently to the front, motioning for the skater girl to follow her in while still playing it coy with her tone. "I'm sure someone's going to live with the humiliation of dissing out on a battle, win or lose. So much for promising Trainers greatness."

It wasn't going to work. There was no way he would ever fall for…

"Fine then!" It worked?

"I'll battle you!" It freaking worked…

Bonnie finally smiled with passion, knowing her trick had worked. He was the type of guy to fall for any attempt on gaining glory for his endeavours. She might have met a few people like him back during her previous travels before, and all of them had fallen victim to none other than the Trainer-Performer duo who inspired her. It was her turn to drive a greedy man down the drain.

"I knew you had the guts." she taunted, turning around to have the challenge ready. Corey felt like slapping her own forehead from the ridiculousness of it all. And everyone thought she was the immature one…

"I'm just going to show you how right my vision is." declared Lambert, proving further of his unexpected demand for a proper reputation. "If I lose, I'll have my word with the mayor and… see if I can cancel my project."

"And if we lose?" Bonnie crossed her arms, now getting serious with the battle at hand. Corey didn't understand why she was going along with this. If it was so easy to go in the mayor's office and talk to him without doing any damage to the property around them, why stop now?

"What do I have to take from you? I'll just prove the fact that you'll need my store anyway."

"Fair enough." From a loser like him, having to even be near his new store would be humiliating enough. Shaking her head from thinking about losing to this vile human being, at least vile in Bonnie's terms, she stayed her focus on going into the battle at hand.

"Hold on!" However, Corey had other plans. Stopping the battle for a while, she stood forward, facing Lambert with a face of determined strength while making her own fists raised up and giving one good word to the manager. She stomped her foot down with bold confidence firing up inside, pointing straight at the manager to deliver her terms. It was a fight **she** had to win.

"I'll fight you!"

"What?" Bonnie stuttered at the sudden challenge posed by the skater. "Corey?"

"It's my park, so I'll fight for it!" announced Corey with pure fire, burning greatly in her heart to finally push herself into saving her beloved park. After all, it was Corey who had all the more to lose. Her own place of privacy and joy was at stake in this affair and she was going to make sure she'll win this battle for herself.

Bonnie wanted to insist, that she would fight in her stead, but Corey would have none of it. The blonde-haired Trainer saw the look of devotion and passion in her face, reminding herself of her own path to fight her way to victory. Her goals were her to win for, and so it was Corey's own fight to make sure her park was saved.

"Alright then." Mr. Lambert couldn't care less; he knew Corey was just a little child and was no match for his own experience in battle. "You girls really want to embarrass yourselves? It's fine with me."

The cockiness in his voice was infuriating, adding more fire to the pit. Corey moved to her position, leaving Bonnie and Dedenne to watch and hope that she would make it. Even if Mr. Lambert was a grown-up, he still wasn't perfect. Ash, Serena and Clemont all bested adults before; Gym Leaders, ordinary Trainers, Team Rocket…Team Flare… Not every adult in the world could be better at Pokemon battles than kids, if they put their soul to it.

So, she held onto faith that Corey had some Pokemon who she bonded well with. Mr. Lambert went to the other side of the makeshift arena, taking out a Poke Ball for his challenge. The girl dusted her pants down, getting down to business to deal with this killjoy of a businessman. Lambert couldn't care any less; he just wanted to get it over and done with, so he could get going with the project.

Bonnie stood behind Corey, eager to lend her full support for her friend, both moral support and advice. She held her hopes that Corey would win, but she didn't know how the fight was going to be. She sighed, resisting her desire to battle in Corey's stead and accepting her role as the referee.

One Pokemon each. That was the only rule of the match she felt she needed to emphasize; no need to say anymore but let the cards play out their outcome. Corey did feel a little pressured by the rule, but she supposed it was for the best. After all, she did have only one Pokemon in her pocket, and it was going to be her only chance at beating Mr. Lambert.

"Go! Zigzagoon!" Corey threw her capsule to the front, summoning her Pokemon. The Zigzagoon popped out, with its spiky brown and beige fur poking right out like the quills of a Sandslash, and its thick tail standing up to a threatening stance as it growled at its opponent.

"Zarr!" Bonnie could squeal at how cute the Pokemon was, but right now, the thrill of battle kept her at bay, though the concern now was on Mr. Lambert. She did take out her PokeDex to get to know this fuzzball a little more, watching the screen play out the details.

" _ **Zigzagoon, the Tiny Raccoon Pokemon. It walks in a zigzag fashion and it has abundant curiosity. It is good at finding items in the grass and even in the ground. Zigzagoons are known to be very curious, interested in almost anything.**_ "

Bonnie then noticed the arrogant smirk on the manager's face, giving some worry to her.

"You'll be lucky to even survive this!" Mr. Lambert threw out his own Poke Ball and sent his Pokemon to battle. "Gurdurr! Go!" The Pokemon that emerged was a humanoid-like creature, abnormal in body shape with every part of its body that, added with pink vein-like muscles, was bulgy and fluid-shaped with only its stomach and feet being the only smaller features. It had a big red nose with a head of bumps all over. However, this was no clown, for what stood out the most was that it carried a big red metal girder with its two hands, almost like a dumbbell. It twirled the girder around like a staff before slamming the tip of it to the ground, triumphantly grunting at its opponent.

"Gurr!" The loud roar, along with its sheer size, did intimidate the smaller challenger and her Pokemon. Bonnie was amazed by the look of this tough Pokemon she had only seen once or twice before during her previous adventures. She took out her PokeDex to study more about the Pokemon Corey's Zigzagoon will be fighting against.

" _ **Gurdurr, the Muscular Pokemon, and the evolved form of Timburr. Gurdurr trains its muscles by carrying a steel beam. With its amazing strength, even professional wrestlers can't move it.**_ "

She figured just as much. Judging by the Pokemon's body shape, pumping attitude and massive weapon, it should be no surprise that it was a Fighting-type. Needless to say, Gurdurr was a deadly force against a Normal-type like Zigzagoon. She hoped that Corey wouldn't be put down by the type disadvantage and relied on other smarter techniques to fight it.

"Alright, Zigzagoon." Corey encouraged. "Even if that Gurdurr is almost five times your size, we won't let that stop us."

"Raww!" The Zigzagoon barked determinedly. Bonnie snuck a small grin, happy to see that Corey and Zigzagoon were not going to let the Gurdurr push them down.

"Your Zigzagoon's got spunk, Corey. But what chance would it possibly have against my Gurdurr?" Mr. Lambert practically snorted, not bothered to show any respect towards the Pokemon he was about to fight.

"Durr!" Gurdurr seemed to follow his sentiment for the seemingly weak. Corey just smiled, confident that Zigzagoon could still pull off what most wouldn't think it would. She had her full faith that her Pokemon would do its best to help its Trainer fight for her skate park. In fact, when she wasn't having any of these stressful troubles, Zigzagoon would share the fun with Corey in the park and ride along with her to their hearts' content. With the park now under fire from being demolished, the Pokemon would do whatever it took to save it for Corey.

"Zigzagoon's one tough Pokemon, Mr. Lambert. And we'll prove it!" Corey began the battle, ordering Zigzagoon to make the first move. "Use Quick Attack!" At her command, the Raccoon Pokemon raced for the Fighting-type with the greatest of speeds, building up tremendous force into its body to deliver the big blow once it jumped towards Gundurr.

"Hammer that thing with a Hammer Arm!" Mr. Lambert graciously told Gurdurr to ram its bar onto the incoming Pokemon. It swung its arm back with all of its strength and ran it to the ground. Zigzagoon saw the attack coming and jumped right over the Pokemon, forced to shut off its attack and evade the strike. The steel bar crashed right into the asphalt on the road, digging in deep. Afterwards, Zigzagoon then hopped onto Gurdurr's head and leapt off behind it.

Zigzagoon turned around to face Gurdurr again, just as the muscular Pokemon pulled his heavy weapon off the ground. The two combatants stared each other down, ready to continue going at each other to satisfy their Trainers' victories.

"GURR!" The fighting Pokemon punched his chest with bravado to show off its intention on bringing the pain, grinning menacingly at Zigzagoon. The smaller Pokemon growled back, unafraid to deal another blow.

"Bulk it Up, Gurdurr!" The Muscular Pokemon puffed up his chest and sucking in energy from a red flashing aura around its body, bringing in enough power to its strength and attack power. In a huff of breath, he released his tension and felt the new burst of fuel burning in its body.

"Zigzagoon! Get close and give him a Bite!" Corey attempted to make another move before Gurdurr had the chance to use its increased power. Zigzagoon ran forward and opened up its jaws to bite down on Gurdurr.

Gurdurr blocked the attack with its bloated arm, allowing the Zigzagoon to sink its teeth onto the limb. The pain seemed to be slight, but from what Bonnie and Corey could see, Gurdurr gritted its teeth, grinding them together as it writhed in pain. Bonnie knew it was a good move, considering that Bite was a Dark-Type move, and Dark-Type moves were a really good dose of power against a Fighting-Type Pokemon like Gurdurr. However, with Bulk Up used, she also understood that the pain wasn't as great as they hoped.

"Nice move, kid. But not good enough." taunted Mr. Lambert. "Gurdurr, shake it off!" Gurdurr complied, rocking its arm up and down with great strength. The rapid force of being swung up and down in such a violent matter nauseated Zigzagoon enough for it to let go and was thrown off back to Corey's side. "It's time to take that weasel down! Use Brick Break!"

The bar was raised up again; this time glowing brightly, and slammed down to hit the furry Pokemon. Zigzagoon again leapt away from the blow, causing a deep crater on the road from the Brick Break.

Bonnie cringed from witnessing the force of the attack on the road. She wondered how could a construction enthusiast like Mr. Lambert would do that much damage to satisfy his ego. If that was the case, then she really hoped that Corey would win. If such a man had that bad of a desire for glory, then she really didn't want anything from him and his shop.

"Zigzagoon! Hang in there!" Just as Zigzagoon landed, Corey yelled out to give her Pokemon confidence. Her voice burning with compassion to defend what she loved.

"Rarf!" Zigzagoon barked with the same spirit.

"Give Gurdurr another Quick Attack!" Zigzagoon sprinted forward with another speeding charge to head-butt Gurdurr with all its might.

"I'm not playing around, kid!" shouted Mr. Lambert. "Gurdurr, dodge the attack and give Zigzagoon a Brick Break!" The muscle Pokemon charged up its metal bar again for another massive slam to the ground. Unfortunately, as Zigzagoon came forward, the force of the attack, while it didn't hit it, caused the road around it to rupture underneath it, throwing Zigzagoon off the ground.

"Oh no!" Corey watched helplessly as Zigzagoon spun into the air from the shockwave. Bonnie gasped as well, Dedenne hiding his face into the top part of her hat.

"Now give it a Hammer Arm!" With its bar stuck on the ground, Gurdurr then gave one powerful swing of its arm and delivered a bone-crushing punch at Zigzagoon while it was still in the air. The Pokemon's small size and, thus, light weight made the pain even more unbearable, sending it hurling towards Corey with intense aching in its body. The Pokemon crashed into the dirt, making its Trainer very agitated.

"Zigzagoon!" Corey yelled, just as her Pokemon was writhing in pain from the heavy blow to its body. Still, with much determination left, Zigzagoon slowly got itself back up. Despite its agony, it was willing to go at it again. Watching the Gurdurr beat its chest after its successful blow, it growled with provoked anger, ready to teach its opponent a lesson.

Corey didn't want to back down, either. She looked at her Zigzagoon to see how much it wanted to make its Trainer happy and proud, feeling the strength grow from within her heart. From this point on, she felt like this was about to be more than just a fight for her park. It was also a fight to show what her Pokemon could do against a tougher opponent, against the wildest of foes.

"No giving up now, Zigzagoon!" encouraged Corey, receiving a firm bark from the Pokemon.

"RAWR!"

"Let's go for another Bite attack!" Corey pointed straight at Gurdurr, ordering her Pokemon to launch itself for another run. The little rodent skipped towards the Fighting-type with all its speed. When it leapt to take out its target, Zigzagoon opened its jaws, prepared to bite Gurdurr's body again.

"Gurdurr! Dodge!" Lambert ordered with smug satisfaction. The muscular Pokemon shifted to the side, letting Zigzagoon miss its mark. The small Pokemon exclaimed its shock when Gurdurr dodged the attack, now left with no options. "Hammer Arm, again!" The cold order was given and Gurdurr followed up with an equally merciless strike to Zigzagoon again, whacking it off and sending it flying and crashing onto the ground again.

"Zigzagoon!" Corey yelled. She watched as Zigzagoon was bashed aside and completely wrecked by the attack. The sight of seeing her Pokemon was beyond excruciating, especially after being hit the second time by a very powerful move. She knew, hesitantly, that it was almost out of energy and strength to fight against a Pokemon which was already too powerful and ready for more.

Corey fell into this state of utter desperation and hopelessness, just as Mr. Lambert smirked at her failure to apprehend the situation. She grabbed the pigtails behind her head and pulled them from frustration and dread, losing hope by the seams. "Oh no. He's getting pummelled out there. What do I do?!" She yelled out her exasperation while kneeling down in agony over losing her beloved skating park to a greedy loser. What was she to do now?!

"Corey!" Just then, she heard the clear-cut call of Bonnie, shouting to her with a hint of confidence and seriousness. When Corey looked at her, she knew just as much that she was calling out to her.

For Bonnie, she could not bear to see a young girl lose the things she loved to a man who wanted nothing more than glory and gold. She could not stand still and let her friend feel devastated over the battle when it was not even over. A battle is only over when the outcome was definite; either side must have a fainted Pokemon. And if Zigzagoon was still going to fight for his Trainer, then he was not going down until the very end.

As long as Zigzagoon stood, Corey's fight was far from over. She had so much to prove to her father over how disappointed she was over the loss of the greatest gift she could ever give to her, other than his own love. Bonnie had to remind Corey that had a great asset by her side, and she had been using it, to the blonde Trainer's dismay, against her the whole time.

"Use your street smarts! You've been busting me around for so long in the streets, skating around and constantly annoying me for these past hours! You should know what to do to get past those who frustrate you! Use your head!" She really hated thinking about those irritating memories of Corey's antics upon her, but at this moment, Corey had to be at her best. The best way to do it was to be an annoying little punk.

"Think ' **you** '!" Bonnie finally stopped, ending with one simple advice. Corey nodded understanding that she could use her own tricks to her advantage and apply it to Zigzagoon. If normal battle tactics were not going to work, then she would play ither way. She had to be very careful with her new tricks. Like a real skating joyride, any mistake or fall she would make would be her last, or in this case, Zigzagoon's as well. With Bonnie's encouragement, though, her spirits were bolstered to get Zigzagoon back into the action.

"Zigzagoon! Are you okay?!" called Corey. The rodent Pokemon struggled with double the pain, shaking badly from its clobbering from two Hammer Arms. Nevertheless, it stood back up, nodding to confirm its stance to fight again, no matter how hurt it was. "I know you're in pain, but if you're still in it for the fight, then I've got an idea!"

Zigzagoon paid attention to its Trainer closely, hearing out what Corey would have it do to even up this almost impossible fight. It put all its faith on its Trainer, knowing that she was far smarter and brave enough to keep up the fight. It bent its body down to prepare for the attack, despite its shaking body. Mr. Lambert and Gurdurr, as always, didn't really mind if Zigzagoon was going to continue or not; it was going down all the same.

The battle resumed, beginning with Corey's start at initiating her new tactics. It was time to go full throttle and be like a daredevil on the road!

"Zigzagoon!" shouted Corey. "Run around Gurdurr as fast as you can! Just go mad!" Zigzagoon complied, dashing towards the Fighting-type with great speed. Even its pain couldn't stop it from running at such rapid pace. Though slower from the hurt it took, it was still a quick little critter, running powerfully towards its target.

Then, when in range, it began to follow along with Corey's plan and run around the larger Pokemon. It hopped here and there, doing its best to keep Gurdurr guessing. The muscle Pokemon turned its head around wildly to try and watch out for its opponent. The raccoon Pokemon was so swift, so evasive that it could not keep up to where it would end up next.

"Gurdurr! Brick Break!" At the haste of its Trainer, Gurdurr proceeded to launch another powerful slam of its metal bar, seemingly unhindered by the Zigzagoon's rapid speed.

"Jump at that bench and hop on its head!" Corey quickly called ahead, directing her Pokemon to jump at the very bench at the side of the field. Zigzagoon immediately went for the bench and hopped onto it, just before Gurdurr slammed its weapon onto the road, barely missing it. When the rodent jumped on the bench, it then launched itself from the backrest, kicking its legs and sent itself catapulting to Gurdurr's head. Thanks to the weapon being stuck on the road, it didn't take Zigzagoon long to land its feet on the bulging head of the Muscle Pokemon and then giving it a nice little kick before it hopped away.

The little trick seemed to have done its job; Corey could see steam coming out of Gurdurr's nostrils. The fighting Pokemon became agitated by the sneaky little trick Zigzagoon pulled off, now more bent on hurting it, constantly honing its eyes all over for the scurrying little Pokemon. All part of the plan…

"That's it! Keep it up!" cheered Corey. Every time Gurdurr tried to attack, Zigzagoon was already jumping around, tricking and dodging its attacks before landing its furry paws on its body and leaping out of the way. Each of these little manoeuvres done only seemed to provoke Gurdurr into attacking aimlessly even more. If done properly, then maybe it would run out of energy, good enough for a proper attack.

"What the-?!" Mr. Lambert seemed to have gotten the picture, but was still pressed to let Gurdurr keep up the pressure while cursing at the little rodent to cease its tactics. "Stay still, you rodent!"

"Not a chance!" yelled Corey. "Just a little more!" Then, Zigzagoon was about to make another run over Gurdurr again. As it looked up while it was running towards it, it saw the metal girder about to ram it down again, with an angry look on Gurdurr's face.

"Slide!" At Corey's command, the Pokemon then jumped forward and slid down on the pavement, pulling off something like the cool stunts its Trainer did when ducking underneath overhead obstacles. On its belly, it slid right over the smooth pavement, dragging much faster right before the metal bar rammed into the floor, again missing its mark.

Once Zigzagoon was well out of the way, it then proceeded to scurry off for another run. This time, however, as it turned its direction around, Gurdurr was prepared to go full throttle and jumped in the air, going for another massive shake of the earth.

"Jump!" To avoid another catastrophe, Zigzagoon jumped up so high in the air, almost completely above Gurdurr while the road shook with violent magnitude. The raccoon Pokemon was high up in the air, safely preventing another blowout from the force of the Brick Break onto the ground.

After landing again, Zigzagoon went for another run, bent on keeping it up until Corey gave the word while ignoring the pain it sustained as best it could. After a few more runs around Gurdurr, the dodging made Gurduur even more enraged, bashing here and there, hoping to eliminate that annoying pest. The anger built up made him even more dangerous, despite the loss of focus. Doing its best to not get hit by any of its attack, Zigzaggon kept up the pressure, waiting for Corey's call.

Gurdurr then struck again, meeting no success in its hit. All it could see next was Zigzagoon, jumping towards it after its attack.

"Use Tail Whip with a hundred-eighty-degree spin!" At Corey's call, the Pokemon spun its body around like a top in the air, sticking its tail out to deliver slapping force. Its bushy tail relentlessly slapped Gurdurr in the face on and on, brushing it with its spiky fur and lightening its guard. With its Defence lowered, Corey knew it was time to score the hit of the century.

"Gurdurr! Take one Hammer Arm to the air!" In a desperate attempt to break off the attack, Mr. Lambert called upon one haphazard Hammer Arm from Gurdurr. It all laid on hope and dumb luck to turn the tables back into his favour. The power built into its Gurdurr's arm strengthened his force again before unleashing it upwards to try and hit Zigzagoon just before it could let go.

Once again, Zigzagoon dropped down onto the ground just before it could be hit by the attack, causing yet another missed opportunity to slip past and leaving Gurdurr vulnerable to any attack.

"And now…!" Corey quickly caught on with the miss and proceeded to move forward and call in another proper attack. "Bite on his head!" Zigzagoon immediately listened and turned around, jumping towards Gurdurr's head and gave it one nasty Bite attack, clamping its jaws onto him. The Fighting Pokemon roared in pain from the great amount of power delivered from the bite.

"Gurdurr!" Lambert was losing his patience with the sudden turning of the tides, watching his Gurdurr being thrown into a disadvantageous position, as Zigzagoon toyed around, using its speed and mischief.

Bonnie could honestly jump for joy at seeing Corey use her own tactics and apply them to Zigzagoon's battle style. Now, the ball was in their court and hope was starting to come back to the girls in the fight to save Corey's skating park.

Corey could feel it; with Zigzaggon delivering a super effective blow to an otherwise weakened Gurdurr, she could finally call in a strike that shall finish the battle with one more move. Her fight to save the one place she loved was about to end in her victory.

"Zigzagoon!" she called for the final blow. "Let's end it with a Quick Attack!" With all of her heart, she gave the last order to launch a Quick Attack and Zigzagoon backed up all the way to give itself the momentum. A quick charge up and the Pokemon was running towards its weakened opponent. After a jump, it then delivered the full head-butt to Gurdurr's stomach, sending the Pokemon flying back towards the other end of the arena. The brute crashed onto the ground, bouncing up once before finally landing on its back. In an instant, the Pokemon's eyes showed the fate of the battle.

"What?! No!" Lambert almost shrieked at seeing his Pokemon being bashed by a small attack. Everyone soon looked towards the Gurdurr and saw that the combatant was down for the count, looking for a sign that it was either good or out. The definite sign was the pair of swirly eyes and the mouth left agape, letting out one more groan before it was out for the count and showing that Gurdurr was officially defeated.

Bonnie jumped up from her seat to see what had happened, running towards Corey with joy and celebrated with a shout-out.

"And Gurdurr is unable to battle!" she yelled happily. "The winner is Corey and Zigzagoon!"

Corey could not believe it; she actually defeated Gurdurr and Mr. Lambert. She let it all seep in before she could finally express how she felt about the victory. The park was going to be saved!

"We did it!" she squealed with the best of feelings she hadn't felt in a while. Zigzagoon came running towards her, jumping up in her arms as Corey then spun around while hugging Zigzagoon tightly. At last, hope and joy was saved, so too was their source of enjoyment. She could have never guessed that she and Zigzagoon would ever pull off such a win and for something they always treasured.

Bonnie, too, shared their excitement, going in to join her in the celebrations. She may have not gotten to battle against Mr. Lambert, but after giving that much needed advice to Corey, she could have not been any happier than to help out a friend.

"You were amazing, Corey!" congratulated Bonnie.

"Dene!" added Dedenne, just as jubilant as his Trainer.

"It was all thanks to you, Bonnie!" cheered Corey. "Without your support, I didn't think I would go that far."

"All in a day's work for a friend!" Bonnie gloated, pointing at herself with her thumb. Then, as the two girls stopped celebrating, they soon looked towards the defeated opponent. Lambert withdrew his Gurdurr back into its Poke Ball, putting on a sour face after that humiliating defeat.

He felt the shame of losing to a little girl and her equally petty Pokemon, even with the type advantage against them. It didn't make sense as to how a puny Zigzagoon could ever match up against a Gurdurr. It was cheap and sneaky tactics that eventually proved to be his downfall, now forcing the man to suck up the loss and leave with a scar to his reputation. Good thing none of his workers were there to see their boss lose so badly to that punk.

After returning Gurdurr, he looked at the victorious girl, hiding the shame from his face.

"You fought well for a little punk, eh?" A smile was forced onto his face, but the girls knew he was not taking the loss too well. None of that mattered; all Corey wanted was for him to accept the terms of their battle's end and allow the skating park to remain, and he could go building some other stuff elsewhere.

Suddenly, from the face of upset loss, Bonnie and Corey spotted a small little grin on his face, showing that there was something very wrong with what he had in mind.

"Well, too bad it ain't going to do you any good." They were shocked. Even after a fair fight, the greedy manager refused to give in. This time, however, he had something that instantly destroyed all hopes for the girls. "Seriously? Did you really think I would just battle and accept the terms, when I have the paperwork to show my approval anyway?"

Bonnie snapped inside. Drats! She should have seen this coming. Why would Lambert even agree to fighting Corey if he was going to just get some papers signed and done to approve the demolition anyway? Typical stupid grown-ups.

Corey's feelings of joy were quickly dashed, like her whole world came tumbling down. She felt the betrayal strike her in the heart, throwing her back into the state of hopelessness. Just when she thought she would win a fair battle and be rewarded for her fight, it all didn't matter in the end. She was almost on the verge of shedding tears again, devastated that things had been unfair.

"You little…!" Bonnie, on the other hand, was just plain fed up of the immaturity of this supposedly well-intentioned man. He had the nerves to deny Corey the park, but the low level of wasteful fighting was going too far. She wanted to have Dedenne deliver a much-deserved Nuzzle onto the man, a feeling which was shared by the electrified rodent as he sparked his cheeks in anger.

"Face it, you two have no chance to save that waste of space." Lambert shrugged, showing more of how much of a jerk he was to the girls, they thought. Corey was starting to lose her patience with this man, but papers were papers. All her father had to do was sign them and they were done.

Soon, it would be all over for the park and Corey's fun…

"What is going on here?!" Just then, a loud grunting voice was shouted out in the area. Everyone soon looked to the Council Building to find that a man, almost taller than Mr. Lambert but slightly stronger-looking, dressed in a dark blue tuxedo and with a bald head, came out to keep everyone silent to listen to him.

He then laid his cross eyes on one of the girls in front of him. Shaking his head in disappointment, he walked over to meet Corey, not looking very pleased with her, specifically. Bonnie noticed the gaze he fixed on her friend, making her assume why. She knew what he was to Corey, but not bothering to speak up one bit.

"Corey…" sighed the man.

"Dad." responded Corey, lowering her head and talking with a sad tone to the man she confirmed was her father; the Mayor of Santalune City."

"Mr. Mayor, sir!" Mr. Lambert came running towards the Mayor, only to be stopped by the raising of his palm.

"Enough, Mr. Lambert." silenced the Mayor. "Shouldn't you be working on that project of yours?"

"Yes, sir." Lambert bowed humbly to the Mayor, hurriedly apologetic. Soon after, he was quick to let his client know of the culprit behind his lack of progress. "But… your daughter is kind of in the way." The Mayor turned towards his daughter again, looking more cross than he was before.

"I should have known." Corey only bent her head down lower, unable to face her dad after all the stuff he's allowed Lambert to do. Deep down inside, there was a sense of anger that forced her to grow distant from her father. She had been this way for over two weeks now, disappointed over his inability to understand her and her needs. Now, this time, she has had enough. No more hiding her concerns. She was going to tell him why she was being the disobedient girl she was.

"Dad." she uttered. "Why did you let Mr. Lambert take away the park?" The Mayor sighed again, guessing correctly over why Corey was becoming such a mess of trouble.

"Corey. We've been through this." he groaned, though with a softer tone, hoping to help Corey understand his thoughts. "Mr. Lambert's new building is going to help a lot of people. Pokemon Trainers who could finally get a good start on their way to the League."

"But that park was the gift I always loved. Why are you taking it away from me?" Corey argued back. This time, with full force of her passion, she continued to let her father know that she was getting hurt because of the loss of the park, the one gift he couldn't possibly replace for another. Unfortunately, nothing was getting through with his thick head.

"I'm sorry, Corey." he said, understandingly. "It's just that Daddy cares about the people, and I need to make sure their wishes are fulfilled." Again, Corey relented, shifting her head away from him, now stricken with betrayal over how stubborn he was towards her. Finally, tears were finally coming out and her voice became muffled with her slight sobbing.

"You never understand." she cried out, unable to fathom why her father would never listen. It also seemed that the Mayor was struck by the comment she made on him, further saddened that his daughter could not see reason to his plans.

At this point, Bonnie was growing very tired over the grown-ups for being so single-minded, all for something that could achieve many things, but would ultimately cause the ire of a daughter. No one should hate their own family members, nor should they refuse to understand how much hurt they had caused. She felt she needed to help the Mayor see the truth of Corey's feelings for that park.

So, with determination, she had much more spirit to help Corey, speaking with the Mayor himself if she must.

"Sir." she called to the Mayor. "Hi, I'm Bonnie. I would like to say something. You know, as one of those Trainers starting up, as you said."

"Speak your mind, young lady." The Mayor gave Bonnie his attention. Bonnie tried to sound as understanding as she could, suppressing her own anger of seeing a man not caring enough for his own daughter.

"I know you're trying to help us Trainers out, but…" She silenced herself before laying her eyes on Corey, as if emphasizing her point towards her. "Look at Corey." The Mayor turned to face her daughter, who was now looking up at him, still having tears. "She's clearly upset about losing the one thing she really loves." When she turned to look at the Mayor, she put in more power into her voice. "As her father, isn't it terrible to give away something that precious, especially when you, yourself, gave it to her in the first place?"

"I know Corey's a little loose on the strings. But isn't her love more important than all of this?" Bonnie then went over to pat Corey in the back, comforting her as best she could. "I just wanna watch out for her, and maybe you should too."

Finally, Bonnie noticed the quiet look on the Mayor's face. Had she broken through? He was silently looking down on the ground, as if wondering about what she said. She hoped that he was thinking about Corey, and how much that place meant to her. Then, as he looked back up, he saw Corey coming over to him, tears still there, but her face was now showing her at her most honest. She wept enough; wiping away her tears and finally opening up to her father.

"Dad. I really, really love that park. It's one of the many things I can always remember you by." She then held out her hands and clasp them with his own, pouring out her emotions to the fullest. "Please don't take away that place. It's the best gift you're ever given me."

Then, Bonnie saw the change of expression on the Mayor's face. For the first time, she saw a broken sense of sadness coming from him. His brows were tipping the other way, his eyes now looking regretful and touched, and his body tightened. If this was a sign, then it must had been a good one.

Finally, after a moment of opening up, the Mayor soon started to speak again. Corey held onto the last bit of hope in her heart that he had come through, but did not hold on too hardly on her wishes. She had to withstand the bad news and take it strongly, should she ever get it. She was not going to hate her father, doing her best to be understandable and love him, regardless over what may happen next.

"To tell you kids the truth…" He finally spoke, with Corey and Bonnie practically crossing their fingers.

"I really liked that place, too."

A light of hope shined. Corey and Bonnie didn't hear it right, but it sounded like, somehow, the Mayor had finally changed his mind!

To see whether he was saying exactly so, Corey walked a little closer to her father. The man then bent down to match her height, holding on to her shoulders with an apologetic look.

"Corey. I always wanted to make people happy. That was why I had Mr. Lambert go ahead and demolish the park and make room for a new place to help others."

"But, now I realize…" He bent his head down, now taking the shame over what he had planned. "That I built that place, for the one person I cared for the most. To make her the happiest person in the city." Afterwards, he faced his little girl again, the person he referred to as that happiest person. "For you."

Corey's frown soon dramatically curved to a smile. She was finally listening to her dad remembering what was dear to him, that he could not always satisfy everyone. There could be loads of places for Trainers, including Bonnie, to begin their journeys from. However, if he wanted to show how much he cared for his family, there had to be one place where he could show that much love for his daughter.

Finally, coming to his senses, the Mayor shook his head frantically.

"Gosh, what have I been doing? I've been so busy managing this town, I forgot what was the most important thing in my life." He then brought his daughter in a tight hug, ruffling with her hair as he did so. Corey giggled sweetly at her father's embrace, fully satisfied over his change of heart.

"So, does that mean…?" asked Corey. The Mayor simply nodded with a smile. Letting go of his daughter, he turned around to meet Mr. Lambert. Bonnie wasn't sure if Mr. Lambert was paying attention, noticing that he had been checking his paperwork during the whole drama. Seriously? How could he be so ignorant of everything that was going on?

"Mr. Lambert." Finally, the Mayor snapped him out, causing him to stand at attention, looking like he still won. Wait 'till he heard what the Mayor had to say, thought Bonnie. "I've changed my mind. The park stays where it is."

"What?!" Mr. Lambert almost tripped when he heard the sudden plan to cancel his building project. "But, sir…!"

"No buts, Mr. Lambert. I've already made my decision." "My girl deserves much more than what I've given her so far, but that park is the one place where she can feel at her most awesome." Corey couldn't help but snicker at her dad. It was not every day she'd hear her dad saying such a youthful word to describe something. "So, I'm sorry. But I cannot move forward with the demolition. The park stays where it is."

"But… where will I build my new shop?!" exclaimed an exasperated Mr. Lambert, swinging his arms high in the air.

"I don't know." The Mayor shrugged. "Find somewhere else, maybe? I hope you understand."

"But… but… Santalune is the perfect spot for my target market!" Mr. Lambert was breaking down in disbelief.

"Sorry, Mr. Lambert, but no can do." The word was final, no more plans for a shop. Mr. Lambert had gotten the message, at last, with failure and rejection slapped into his body. With nothing more to gain, he was forced to give up on his plans for his building, further upset that he lost his chances, doubled by his defeat at the hands of the Mayor's own daughter. He gave out a huff before stomping away in shame, passing the now grinning Corey.

"Hmph!" As he passed by, he soon glared at Bonnie, who he also didn't seem to be fond of. "I hope you both are happy." And then, he just simply walked off, taking with him his losses. Bonnie couldn't resist; her inner child prompted her to stick her tongue out with mischief. Seeing the last of him, hopefully, she then turned back to the loving scene of father and daughter reconcile with each other.

"I'm so sorry, my dear." the Mayor apologized. "I was just too focused on the needs of the people, when I should be respecting the needs of my family too." The two then hugged again, this time, being more loving and warmer than the last.

"It's okay, daddy." said Corey, before admitting her own missteps. "Sorry about the mess." Yeah. When she thought about it, she did leave quite a literal pile of trouble across the building's walls. The Mayor soon picked up on this and decided to do something about it.

"And you're going to clean it up, young lady." he said, putting his hands on his hips as he told Corey of what she had to do. The girl was about to shamelessly accept her responsibility, but then, her dad interrupted her with a cheerful smile. "With me!" Happy to hear her father wanting to do more with her, she gave him another hug to show her appreciation.

"I love you, dad." she dearly wished him.

"I love you, too, Corey." As the two separated, business was about to go as usual. Before she could move on, Corey returned to Bonnie. As soon as she got to her, she gave the blonde Trainer a tight bear-hug, squeezing Bonnie in like the deathly grip of an Ursaring.

"Thanks so much, Bonnie!" cheered Corey, unaware that Bonnie was slowly suffocating.

"Eck! Choking… not breathing…" After a few agonizing seconds, Bonnie was freed from the hug, breathing heavily. Corey didn't seem to bother about the hurt she did; she was just happy that she was given back her park, thanks to Bonnie's help. Regardless of her pain and Dedenne's mock laughter, Bonnie managed to muster up a smile like her usual cheery self.

After giving her thanks to Bonnie, Corey was about ready to part ways with her and be on her merry way, wherever the road may take her.

"Well, I gotta get ready. Dad and I will be doing a lot of cleaning up." Corey whirled around, putting on her skates from her bag before wheeling away from Bonnie. She couldn't turn around to face Bonnie, but she did give one final wave to wish her goodbye. "See ya' around!"

"Stay cool!" Bonnie waved back, shouting at Corey with all her heart.

"Dene Dene!" Dedenne waved his tiny little paw, too. Watching Corey skate away, Bonnie was finally free from yet another problem. She was supposed to have spent the day to relax and enjoy her time in the city, but she wouldn't pass the chance to help a friend in trouble. Satisfied that she helped someone with her troubles, she could head on back to the Pokemon Centre and get a much-deserved rest.

"Young lady." Suddenly, Bonnie was stopped by the Mayor, who called her over to meet him. She turned around to face the old man, tying her hands behind her at attention. She wondered what he could be calling her for, possibly a little 'thank you' from himself, maybe? After all, she did inspire Corey to push forward by giving her own opinion to the Mayor. "Bonnie, is it?" the man asked, getting a nod from Bonnie with her mouth forming a very tiny 'O' shape. "Thank you very much for making me see what truly matters."

"It was nothing, sir." Bonnie smiled, tilting her head in her usual jolly mood. Just then, the Mayor held his chin with a thought in mind.

"Say, you said so yourself, that you were a beginning Trainer?" asked the Mayor.

"Yes, sir?" answered Bonnie, curious as to why the Mayor would inquire with interest.

"Then I might recommend something just for you." Bonnie perked her hearing up to listen in to what he was about to suggest for her. "There is a Pokemon School that is about to begin its new semester tomorrow. So, if you wish to catch up on your Pokemon training, then might I suggest spending a day there?" Already, Bonnie had hit a stump in the idea. Tomorrow was her first ever Gym Battle with Viola, as she promised her an early battle, first thing in the morning. She hated to refuse such a generous offer from the Mayor, but she had her priorities in check on her course to the Pokemon League.

"I'd like to, but I promised Viola that I'd battle her for my Bug Badge tomorrow." sighed Bonnie. The Mayor gave her an understanding smile, nodding at her.

"The choice is yours, young lady. You can choose to attend the next day if you'd like." Given the go to book for another day, Bonnie turned around to think about the chance to spend a day at this Pokemon School. She had already gained quite a lot of knowledge from her time with her brother and their friends during their previous journey years ago. She had paid very close attention to the three older Trainers, taking note of how battles and even performances are fought, how Pokemon can be caught, and what rules Trainers had to follow in the course of their own journeys. Plus, she was already learning beforehand, taking early steps into training herself to become an adaptive Trainer.

Though, despite being confident that she had the prerequisite tips to getting started with Pokemon Training, she still knew that there may be a bit more space for education to pick her right up. Remembering how Ash lost to Viola on his first try, it would be best to at least absorb more knowledge to help in her own battle.

Maybe she could use the trip to the school. If she ever fought against Viola's team before taking part in the classes, she felt that her odds may not go so well. Should she lose, she'd take the offer and join the school for a day, and then battle Viola again on the next day. So, if she joined the school first and studied a little more, then she would take on Viola with a better chance against her.

Taking that into account, she began to change plans inside her head, considering to postpone her match to get more acquainted with Pokemon Training before her eventual battle.

"Come to think of it, Dedenne." she told her Pokemon. "I think some crash course learning is exactly what we need."

"Dede?" Dedenne squeaked, asking if Bonnie was sure with her choice. Then, a bigger smile was formed on the Trainer's face, sure of her decision.

"Yeah! I think I'd like that." she jubilantly locked in her answer. "I'd have to tell Viola about postponing the battle, but we've still got tons of time before the League, right?"

"Dene!" her Pokemon supported her decision. Bonnie had to find time to inform Viola as soon as she could. In the meantime, she was ready to take on the offer to be a student for a day. Turning back to face t Mayor, she happily told him of her decision to go to school.

"I'll be more than happy to attend for a day, sir!" She gave him a playful salute and a wink to show her enthusiasm. The Mayor was certainly glad to hear that Bonnie was going to try out a few classes to improve her chances of winning against Viola.

"Then do send my regards to the headmistress of the school. She's an old friend of mine, so she should allow you to visit her classes for the day." informed the Mayor.

"Will do!" Bonnie obliged with her trademark grin of sunshine. Soon, it was time to say farewell, going back to enjoying the serenity of Santalune and do whatever she would like.

"I wish you all the best in your path to becoming a great Trainer, young lady." The Mayor held out his hand, letting Bonnie shake it with her own to see herself off.

"See you next time, Mr. Mayor!" After waving off to the Mayor, she began to jog back to the Centre to refresh herself, with the man doing the same back to her.

"Dene!" Dedenne squeaked back, hanging on to Bonnie's fedora as she ran off. The Mayor just watched her go on and on, certainly impressed of what one lone stranger he had just met do so much for his life in one day.

"Good kid." He told himself, turning back to tend to business before he could join Corey in cleaning up the messes she made throughout the building. Of all the days of his time as Mayor, this was definitely one of the wildest. He hoped Bonnie would make it all the way; a girl with her passion to help others and be the best she could be always deserved to go very far into success.

* * *

 _An hour later_

After taking a rest at the Centre, Bonnie was feeling all juiced up and ready for more walking around the city. As soon as she exited the doors, she stretched her arms out to relieve the stress from sleep on her muscles.

"Well… Time to head out and explore again." she declared, turning her eyes towards the little bundle of joy on top of her hat. Dedenne was still feeling as drowsy as a… well, Drowzee. He did start to wake up, yawning with his mouth wide open before smacking his lips, with a pair of droopy eyes.

Bonnie was about to embark on her delayed trip across Santalune, when she was suddenly interrupted by a loud, rumbling noise coming from her belly. A strained feeling in her stomach all but told her that she had missed something from her time helping Corey earlier.

"Shucks… I'm still hungry…" moaned Bonnie, realizing that she hadn't found anything to eat since her little incident with the skater. And judging by how uncomfortable the rumbling in her stomach was, it felt like she needed to consume **a lot**. "Please don't tell me I'd be eating like Ash at this rate."

"Dene…" sighed Dedenne, waking up a little more while it rubbed its sleepy eyes.

"The day's still young, so let's go grab something small." assured Bonnie, walking along the pavement to begin her tour of the city for that proper meal. "And no one is going to interrupt us this time!"

 **KKRRRKKK!**

"Huh?" Just then, the sounds of horrific scratching against the pavement haunted her again. For a moment, she thought she had heard the last of that dreaded noise of roller skates coming in hot and at rapid speed. Turning around quickly, she was too late to react to the sudden arrival of the person she didn't really expect to find again.

"EEKK!" She quickly fell down on the ground, trying to duck for cover while Dedenne fell off her fedora and dropped just in front of her. The two crashed onto the hard floor, feeling the pain surge through them, just as a lone figure leapt over them and landed down right in front. As Bonnie struggled to look up, she began to groan frustratingly over the repeat of a terrible incident.

"Sorry, Bonnie!" This time, however, it was all an accident, not a deliberate act to derail Bonnie of her day. Corey just sped on, waving her hand and shouting out an apology instantly after landing. Just like that, she rode off, with a metal pail hanging from her hand.

Bonnie's fingers began to tremble after the hard fall, raising her head to reveal a very red layer of skin from falling flat on her face. Her teeth gritted as she withstood the pain, while cursing at herself for the self-jinx.

"It's cool, Corey…" she mumbled. "It's cool…" After trying to regain her strength, she slumped her head back down, failing to recover before giving out one final moan. "Why me…?"

* * *

 _Elsewhere_

Near Santalune, all was calm again for the countryside girl living in the forest, accompanied by her Espeon. She stood by, looking at the clear blue sky while taking in a breath of fresh air to soothe her mind.

After a peaceful day of helping her aunt with the garden at the front yard, she was finally content with watching the white clouds drift ever so slowly in the sky, followed by the occasional small flocks of flying Pokemon cruise right over them.

This was all she needed; a nice day to relax and take in the bright summer day, stroking her Espeon on the head as it laid comfortably on her lap. Sarah was sat down on the fresh, green grass, having nothing but the thought of relishing in the serene environment around her. Honestly, nothing could ever hope to ruin this time of gentle breeze.

Suddenly, there was a slight change in the wind. Sarah felt the breeze growing a little stronger, blowing her hair and the grass below her. Catching the swaying strands of her brown locks, she felt the energy from the wind course through her body with an ominous feeling in her head. It was a feeling not common, but certainly not forgotten either.

"The wind's changing again, Espeon." Sarah told her Pokemon, who also felt the change of power in the wind through its Psychic energy.

"Sarah!" Then, the girl's Aunt Penny called out to her, requesting her aid once more. Come on in, honey!" Sarah rose from her peaceful spot, sighing at the fact that she was to resume another hard day of work.

"Coming, Auntie!" Gently placing Espeon down on the ground, she walked back towards the house to further help her aunt. The velvety-furred Pokemon pranced along with its Trainer as they both got back into the house and back into the usual business of household chores.

However, with the wind they felt earlier, something told them that there was an event that was about to unfold sooner or later. What was untold, however, was whether or not, it would be an event for them…

 **TO BE CONTINUED…**


End file.
